Teen Titans High School Musical
by Dakari-King Mykan
Summary: 8th fic in the chian and 2nd alternate of the 2nd fic ROBxSTAR too: Starfire daydreams what it would be like if the the Titans, including my Copy-Cat OC, were all normal kids in high school with normal problems. DISCLAIMER: I don't own the songs, or HSM
1. Intro

**INTRO**

"TITAN'S GO…" cried Robin as he and the other six dashed down the streets of Jump-city…

Slade was on the loose again, only this time, there were seven Slades exactly. It was his idea to evenly match the Titans; seven to seven. It seemed to be working as none of the others could tell which one was the real Slade…

Finally, the seven Slades were cornered at the site of the construction of a new building. "Yo', it's the end of line, Slade." said Cyborg.

"I would advise you to give yourself up before we are forced to take measures so drastic." added Starfire.

"Hmm, mm… you Titans never cease to amaze Me." one of the Slades hissed.

"I shall make you a deal…" added another. Then all seven spoke at the same time. _"If you can figure out which one of us is the real one… I shall come peacefully."_

"Dude… how do you expect us to figure that out." snapped Beast-Boy. "You all look exactly alike."

Copy-Cat tried sensing their thoughts, or brainwaves of what were obviously robotic-clones, "It is no good…" he said, "Even I am unable to tell."

"Never mind that…" Robin said as he readied his metal-staff. "Titans; everyone pick a Slade and… GO!" and with his word, all the Titans rushed into action, each chasing one of the Slades around the construction site.

Cyborg's and one of the Slades engaged in a fist-fight. "That all you got, man? C'mon…!" Cyborg taunted.

"What…? Please don't tell me you're getting tired." the Slade hissed. That insult steamed Cyborg up. "Yeah…? I'll show you tired… TAKE THIS!" and he fired his sonic-cannon right at his opponent, destroying the robot-clone. "BO-YAH! One down… six to go."

Terra and Raven were dealing with two Slade, as they were being chased up a rocky dirt-hill. "What's the matter ladies?" one Slade said, "Afraid of being crushed in battle?" added the other.

The girls gazed at each other in utter disgust. "The only ones getting crushed are you-two." Raven said.

"Do it…" Terra said as she and Raven concentrated their powers on the huge boulders at the top of the hill, and buried the two Slade's in an avalanche. Sadly, they both were robot-clones, but that still left only four left to beat.

Beast-Boy, as a green mouse, moved quietly along the floors on the unfinished building, until a huge foot stomped on the floor and nearly crushed him, scarring him out of his little mind. "Thought you could outwit me, could you?" said the Slade.

Beast-Boy resumed his normal shape. "Dude… way not cool!" he ranted, and then he changed into a T-Rex… which unfortunately was a bad idea as the unfinished floor wasn't strong enough to hold all that extra weight, and it collapsed sending both Beast-Boy and the Slade crashing down, down, one floor after another… until they both landed with a thud on the hard ground at the bottom.

Ironically, Beast-Boy had managed to crush the robotic-clone upon his landing. He changed to his normal form and stood there, "Heh! What do you know…? I did it."

Only three Slades were left, and one of them was chasing after Starfire. "Twinkle, Twinkle little star… you will never get real far." The Slade mocked her.

Robin's wife gritted her teeth. "That humorous comment grows less humorous every time I hear it!" she growled, and she began to fire he star-bolts which one by one knocked off a piece of the robot-clone, and put it out of action.

Now there were only two left, and Robin, with his staff armed, and Copy-Cat with his X-Men claws, were starring the two remaining Slades down like cowboys ready to draw.

"It's two on two." Robin said.

"But in the end… it is we who shall reign victorious." added Copy-Cat.

The two Slades gawked at each other, and then grabbing two long steel-bars they shouted, _"ENGAURDE…!"_ and the four fighters charged into battle. The clashing of the metals would make one think that a gladiator battle was going on.

The other Titans gathered together on the other side of the battlefield and were still trying to depict the real Slade. "I can't tell…" Raven said, "Their moving around too much for me to even sense close enough."

Using his Psychic-Foresight to determine all of his opponents moves, either robotic or human… he got the best of the Slade he was fighting knocked him to the ground and then stuck his claws right into the robot's chest.

Sparks and small electrical currents began to flow through the metal of his claws, and through his body. "Whoo-oa-oa-oa-oa-oa-AAAAH…!"

Robin saw what was happening, "Copy-Cat…!" and he rushed over quickly and pulled him out of the short-circuiting robot, and then turning quickly to fire his disc-bombs at the last Slade, which also turned out to be a robot.

All seven Slades were defeated, and the Titans were very unhappy, they had been tricked again, and Slade was still out there to fight another day.

Still, for once Robin wasn't concerned about that, "Are you alright…" he asked Copy-Cat.

The Psyconian Prince, _who looked very much like Robin_…shook his body vigorously, retracted his claws, and straightened out his Robin's-mask. "I am… undamaged." he said.

Raven sighed in relief that her boyfriend was alright. "Well let's head on home y'all." Cyborg said, "A battle like this calls for a mean stack of home-cooked ribs."

"A-A-Ahem…" Beast-Boy said while tapping his foot.

Cyborg sighed, and replied with, "And a side dish of tofu-dogs." He understood Beast-boy's desire not to eat meat, but he still just couldn't imagine life as a vegan. Regardless… all the titans headed for the direction of Titan's-Tower.

_**(Intro cue…)**_

"_**TEEN TITANS HIGH-SCHOOL MUSICAL!"**_

_**Starring**__**…**_

_**Robin as Dick Grayson...**_

_**Starfire as Kori And'r…**_

_**Cyborg as Victor Stone…**_

_**Beast-Boy as Garfield Logan…**_

_**Terra Markov/Logan as Herself…**_

_**Raven as Herself…**_

_**Copy-Cat as Kato…**_

_**And… Slade Wilson as Principal Slade…!**_


	2. First day Jitters

_**Author's notes:**_

_**Now remember… this fic is in a chain.**_

_**Refer to MUSICAL: SOME THINGS NEVER CHANGE for full details if you get stumped on something.**_

_**Also… there may be some OOC's, but that's to be expected, remember this is all just a daydream.**_

_**Also, I've never actually SEEN HSM before, I just used an HSM title is all.**_

**CHAPTER ONE**

Another day in the lounge at Titan's tower, Beast-Boy, and his wife of over a year, Terra, were both sitting on the sofa looking down in the dumps as they stared down at their high-school diplomas they had placed on the coffee table before them.

The other five Titans saw them, and found it amazing that they were acting so quiet when usually they were the nosiest couple in the tower. "Uh, Beast-Boy… Terra? You guys feeling alright?" Robin asked.

"We're fine." Terra brooded deeply.

"What's the matter…?" Cyborg mocked jokingly, "Poor BB and Ter upset about somethin'?"

"Exactly…" Beast-Boy snarled as he pointed to the diplomas on the table.

Starfire sat down beside him and gazed down at the shiny frames and the papers they concealed. "Oh… they are very nice." she said, "Please… tell me what part of these objects made you upset my friends."

Beast-Boy and Terra explained to the others that today marked three years ago that they graduated from Murakami-High, and that it was causing them to get lost in their painful memories again.

Terra was haunted by the way how she tried to throw Beast-Boy out of her life on the count of her amnesia, and trying to enforce the fact of _"Things Change…"_

The others could tell that was painful, but when Beast-Boy referred to the time that he quit the team, changed into a regular boy, which increased his IQ to genius levels, and unlocked his magic singing voice… that he also found it hard going to a new school.

"Aww… poor kido didn't like being the new kid." Raven mocked, but Beast-Boy stood up right and really let her have it. "You think it's funny?" he asked deeply, and he went on explain that he had every right to not like being the new kid at Terra's old school…

He never went to school in his life, and even though at that time he was genius, "Why don't you try going to a new school. You don't know anybody… you get lost…! The kids treat you like your invisible and they think weird things about you without even getting to know you first."

"If that means I'm being a baby… Then I guess I'm a baby!" He got up off the sofa and stomped to his room. "Beast boy… wait up." Terra called out to her husband.

Robin and Copy-Cat stared shamefully at Raven and Cyborg. "Yo'… what?" asked Cyborg.

"You two really ought to be ashamed for what you just did." Robin scolded them, "This is not joke to Beast-Boy or to Terra."

Copy-Cat nodded, "The way it comes to my vision, I too would feel awkward in Beast-Boy's position if I were forced to enroll in a public teaching facility."

As the Titans continued to argue, Starfire was starring deeply into the glass on the frames of the two diplomas, and could even see her reflection. She suddenly began to feel herself dozing off, and she began to feel… different.

_**Story begins**__**…**_

A young teenage girl, with long red hair, and green eyes was walking up to Murakami-High, her new school since she and her family had moved to Jump-City. She felt a little nervous coming to a new place, and not knowing any of the other kids there.

She was so lost in her daydreams that she didn't hear a girl with short blonde hair behind her ask her to move. "Hey… move it!" she snapped as she gave the red-headed girl a slight shove.

The girl then heard the voice of someone yelling behind her, "Hey Kitten… wait up!" The girl turned and saw a young man with messy black hair, and wearing a black mask over his eyes run pats her. However he turned back to smile at the new he never saw before.

"_Hey… she's kind of pretty." _he thought.

The girl was also thinking the same thing about that guy who past her. _"Whoever that was he sure looked cute."_ She was snapped out of her thoughts by the sound of the first bell ringing.

All the students began to fill the hallways and corridors of the school; grabbing things out of their lockers and heading to class. The new girl was at her locker, but for some reason it wouldn't open, no matter how many times she tried the combination. That's when someone reached from across her and gently knocked on the door and the locker opened.

The new girl turned and saw that same boy who wore a mask, because he had very sensitive eyes smiling at her. "Had that locker last year…" he said to her.

The girl smiled, "Thank you…" she said sweetly.

The boy then introduced himself, "My name's Dick…"

The girl almost blushed, "Uh, hi… I'm… Kori."

The two stood starring at each other for a while, until the locker behind Dick slammed shut, and that same rude girl who shoved Kori outside said, "Coming Dick…" and they both walked off to their homeroom. Kori was starting to think she had gotten on someone's wrong side on her first day…

…

Her first class was Math, and she found her seat just across from where Dick was sitting, and also that girl Kitten was sitting beside him, and when Dick and Kori began to stare at each other again, Kitten elbowed Dick causing him to stop.

The students did normal problem solving after copying notes off the blackboard, and they were given a few pages out of their Geometry-books to deal with.

Kori was working quietly, when suddenly a large ball of paper hit her in the head. Kori looked over and could tell tat it was that girl Kitten who threw it, but rather than tattle or fight back, Kori went on with her work.

Class ended, and as the students got up to leave, after being told by Mr. Curtis, "Okay gang… big test tomorrow, so make sure your study." As Kori left still feeling a little upset about Kitten and that paper-ball, but that's when Dick caught up with her…

"Hey… uh… Sorry about that thing with Kitten." He said kindly. "She's not real crazy about new kids."

Kori smiled again, "Oh its okay… I'm sure we can work it out somehow."

"Hah! Yeah right…!" snapped Kitten. "Let's go Dick…" she said as she grabbed him by the arm and dragged him down the hallway.

Kori's mind was still on Dick, she only just met him and she was starting feel like she could get along with him at least. Then maybe Murakami-High wouldn't seem so bad.

She was still thinking that when she accidentally bumped into another boy in the hallway, one who looked exactly like Dick, and even wore a mask like Dick for he too had sensitive eyes… only he seemed to look a little pale on the skin, and he had three freckle on each of his cheeks that almost resembled a cat's face.

He was standing next to a pale girl, with purple hair, and they both looked awfully depressed, for when Kori had bumped into the boy she caused him to accidentally drop one of his school reports into the garbage-can beside him and coffee spilt all over it. "Oh… oh I'm sorry about that…" she apologized. "Nothing's going right for me today."

"We know how you feel…" the boy said in a deep somber voice. "It reminds us of a poem."

It was obvious that these two kids were gothic-like as they recited their poem together…

_Its hair was dark, like dead tree's bark.  
__Feel the pain, from a low ingrain._

"Wow…" Kori said, "That was deep…"

The two Goths looked at her with their sad eyes. "We knew you'd like it at least." said the boy. "I'm Kato… and this is my girlfriend Raven."

"We're called the _Depressed-Duo_…" Raven said, "I expect you already figured why."

They had just enough time to explain that they were depressed all that each other had. They liked dark-poetry, and dark-stormy nights, and reading long novels. Kids at the school saw them as _"Creepy."_ Leaving them both feeling isolated and lonely… until they met each other and began dating.

Kori felt sorry for the couple, they were just like her without any friends. "Hey… maybe we can catch up sometime and even work things out to make it all better."

A tear rolled down Raven's cheek, "We'd like that… but that would only suggest a willingness to bring hope to us both. We're beyond that now."

Kato held his girlfriend close, "Come my dark-damsel." he said, "The next class of doom starts any moment." And they walked sadly down the hallway leaving Kori feeling that there was still a lot more about Murakami than met the eye…

…

At that moment from the main office of the school someone was watching all the kids as they walked off to class. A really dark man sitting in his chair and watching the monitors. "Teenagers…" he hissed, "They're all worthless. The lack discipline! They lack commitment!"

Just then, his intercom buzzed. _"Pardon me Principal Slade… but there's a girl here to see you."_

The man answered back, "Send in the young-lady."

Kori walked in to see the Principal, "Uh… pardon me sir…" she said kindly, "But my map seems to have been misprinted, and I couldn't find my way to class."

Slade took the map from her to examine it more closely, "Hmm… I see." he said deeply. "Fear not my dear, you aren't alone." He said as he handed her a correct map.

Kori took it, though she had a sneaky feeling about this man. "Uh… thank you…" she said as she headed off to class. Leaving the man to resume his sour features. "Rotten kids…" he murmured.

He grabbed the letter opener on his desk, and slammed the blade hard on the wood of his desk. "This will be the year… the year where I won't have to deal with any of you again… Hmm, mm, mm…!"


	3. Slade's Sinister Sadism

**CHAPTER TWO**

Kori's first day went on as usual with more twists and turns…

Her classes seemed pretty much okay. English, history, and gym… Her mind though was still focused on Dick, and how he was trying to show kindness towards her. This only made Kitten show more rudeness towards her as well…

At lunchtime however, Kori was sitting by herself in a far corner of the cafeteria. Like most new student got it, she could already hear people silently making fun of her, then suddenly… "Hey, can I sit here?" asked a voice.

Kori looked up and saw Dick, "Oh… uh… sure, go ahead." she said as she offered him a seat. They chatted a bit about Kori's first day, and Dick wasn't surprised to hear that it was going quite as well she thought it would.

"I know how you feel… I got the same rush when I first came here." He said, "Don't worry, things will always get better."

"You think so…?" Kori asked.

Dick nodded, and he told her something he didn't like usually talking about but, he was an Orphan. His family, _the Graysons_ were trapeze-artists in the circus, but one day… something terrible happened, and it was no accident…

A band of thieves had sabotaged the support-lines on the trapezes while all the Graysons, except for young Dick were performing without the aid of a safety-net, and they plunged down to the hard stadium floor… to their doom.

Young Dick was devastated, his whole family, killed before his very eyes…

Kori felt really bad for Dick, "I'm so sorry…" she said in deep pity.

Dick wiped a tear that was leaking from his mask, "Its fine… it wasn't your fault." He replied, and then he went on saying that his friend, Millionaire, Bruce-Wayne took the young orphaned boy into his home, and gave him a second chance so that his life wouldn't take a turn for the worse.

"Bruce was like a second father to me, always teaching me never to give up, even when things seem hopeless."

It was also thank to Bruce's funding's that Dick was able to go to school, and able to get a job as the manager of CD-shop at the Murakami mall. "My life really changed, but still… I do visit my family's grave every now and then."

Kori felt like she could understand Dick's troubles, she too had lost her parents when she was little, but she did live with her God-Father, and her older sister… at least part of her family was still alive.

Dick placed his hand over Kori's, "You're a pretty strong girl…" he said to her, "And I know you'll fit in great here."

Again, Kori asked, "You think so…?"

"I know so… You always have to believe, that something is going to turn up." replied Dick. "Just remember… things are only as bad as your imagination makes it, but it also lets you make the bad things seem great again."

"Here… listen to me…" and sang a song about "Somthing's going to turn up" which helped people understand to keep believing

As the music played, Kori and Dick imagined that they were walking down a golden road, where giant blobs of food were all over the place, and Dick began to sing.

Kori began to believe Dick's words. As they kept on running down the road, and imagined to sample all the amazing things to see and do in their imaginary world.

That something however turned out to be Kitten, clearing her throat, and tapping her foot grudgingly at the two. "What is going on here…?" she asked angrily.

"Oh, Kitten…" Dick said trying to think up an excuse fast. "It's alright… we were just talking."

Kitten did not look impressed, "For your sake Dick… you better have been, or I'll just have to tell my Daddy about this, and that you're not making me happy." She then gazed down at Kori before heading off with Dick… "As for you… mind your own business, Newbie!"

"_Wow, what a brat!"_ Kori thought, _"What's her problem anyways?"_

_**Meanwhile**_…

As lunch hour continued… Principal Slade was in his office and relaying message to his secretary, "I do not with to be disturbed for the next fifteen minutes under any circumstances."

"_Yes sir…"_ replied the lady over the intercom.

That's when Slade pulled all the blinds to his office, and outside windows. Then reaching into his desk, he pulled out a small key, and fit it into a lock on one of the drawers of the desk.

Soft buzzing noises sounded, and then Slade's chair began to lower down into the floor on a trap-door elevator. Down, down he went to a secret underground lair beneath the school, filled with many machines, and electronics. Slade even donned on a new armored-outfit and mask, and finally stepped out of the shadows.

He walked along a metal pathway that stretched out by his feet, all the way across to his desk. He flicked on the lights, and the whole place lit up reveling that it was in fact a giant robot-making facility Slade had worked on for several years, and finally his robots were nearing completion, but still not quite ready.

He typed into his many computers which began to show the files of every student in the school, and anything he wanted to know about them. "Hmm, mm, mm… excellent." He sniggered to himself.

"Years of planning, and waiting patiently, and finally it's all coming together."

Slade was a man who loathed and despised teenagers. He didn't even care for the mature ones, he just plain hated them all in a sign of sadism. It was his fondest dream to outlaw teenage-rudeness, and lock Teenagers away until they matured into fine adults…

Of course, his idea was completely barbaric, even the courts didn't allow such an action as some teenage behaviour helped shape the world and made it what it was that day. As punishment for such an attempt, Slade was fired from his job as a scientist.

Slade decided to do the next best thing, wipe the whole Teenage race off the face of the Earth so that he would never again have to suffer from their wretched attitudes, and his robot-lab was the very thing he needed to make his dream a reality.

"Grr! So close and yet still so far…" Slade mumbled as he went over the files. "If only I had someone to assist me…"

Yet all the students he scanned were either "Dummies…" or "Nincompoops…!" There were however the fewest of exceptions, like Dick Grayson, but he seemed far too slick. A guy like him would probably discover the awful truth in no time…

Regardless, he continued his search right up until his fifteen minutes were up, and he was forced to head back to his office.

_**Meanwhile**_…

Kori got through the rest of her day just fine, without much more rudeness and unkindness from the other students. In computer class, Dick even offered to help Kori out as she didn't know much about computers.

Much to Kitten's dislike…

After Dick had left Kori to her work, Kitten sent her a nasty email saying, _"Keep your mitts off my boyfriend, or this kitten just found a new scratching post."_

Kori gazed over her shoulder and saw Kitten shape her fingers so it looked like she was scratching something; obviously meaning she meant what she threatened, but that wasn't all that Kori had to think about now…

_Boyfriend?_ This began to make her wonder if what Kitten had said was true. We're she and Dick really a couple? She wasn't sure, but it looked as though Dick really wasn't having much fin with Kitten…

Especially after the final bell rang, when she saw Dick having to carry all of Kitten's homework assignments home as well as his own stuff, and worse, "Now remember Dickie-pooh… I want an A-plus or better." she said gruffly.

"Yeah Kitten… I get the message!" Dick said sounding annoyed.

It was obvious to Kori that Kitten was forcing Dick to do her own homework. She would've offered to help him carry all those books except Kitten was still with him, and she remembered Kitten's threat. So she decided to just leave it and head home.

As all the other students headed home, Principal Slade was gazing through the blinds of his office at all the rotten kids, and hissed silently, "Tomorrow's another day…!"


	4. Here comes Garfield Logan

**CHAPTER THREE**

The next day was cold and windy, and the skies were a little grey most of the students wore jacket over their uniforms as they headed to school.

Kori wore a sweater that came with her uniform as she walked to school, and she met up with Dick, who also had a sweater on. He looked a little tired though; "We're you up all night…" she couldn't help but ask.

Dick yawned, "Most of the night. Doing Kitten's homework as well as my own… Then I had to study for today's test."

Kori was beginning to hate that Kitten girl more and more. She even asked what she meant by calling him her boyfriend. "Oh _that…"_ he said in dismay, and he explained to her that Kitten was a spoiled rotten child of her father, who was blackmailing Dick into dating her, and take her to prom at the end of the year.

"But I don't really like her that way." Dick said, "In fact… I just plain _don't like her."_ Kori felt worried that if Kitten found out about that, "Oh don't worry…" Dick said. "Her father may be rich, but my friend Bruce Wayne is better than he is. As soon as I find out what her father has planned, it'll be easier to dump her."

Kori agreed to keep that in mind.

As they neared the school, they met up with one of Dick's old friends that he hadn't seen for a while. He was a tall and buffed-up dude with no hair, "Yo' Dick… my main-man." he said he slapped him a high-five.

"Kori… this is Victor Stone." Dick introduced her, "And Vic… this is Kori… she's new here."

Kori felt almost afraid of how huge Vic was, "Come closer sister… let's get a look at ya'…" Vic said as he eyed the girl from head to toe. "Quite the charmer ain't she…" he said, and then winked, "And she's cute too."

Kori smiled and said, "Boy, I like him…"

"I knew you would…" Dick smirked.

Then suddenly, some of the students began to look frightened. One of them even yelled out, "He's coming! He's coming!"

Dick and Vic gazed at each other in concern, but Kori confused. "What's all this about?" she asked. "Who's coming…?"

Vic pointed up the street as a mopad-bike rolled into the parking lot, and riding it was another student and he was wearing a long cape, almost as if he had bought it from a costume shop, instead of a jacket on this cold day. When he removed his helmet he looked awfully angry, and had visible bags under his eyes.

"Who is that…?" asked Kori.

"Shh…" Dick hushed her, "That's _Garfield Logan._ The smartest kid in the entire school and a kid with a very tough core and attitude…!"

Vic nodded in agreement, "That kid's got one hell of a brain. He gets more Straight-A's than any of us here, but he also acts pretty mean at times for reasons no one knows why"

_**(Music cue)**_

Garfield locked his mopad in place and then walked right past the three others with his cape fluttering in the cold breeze. "Whew… did it just get colder?" Kori asked.

As Garfield continued to walk along the students began to sing about him- of how creepy and nasty he was.

As Garfield pass by the Cafeteria, one of the peppers turned rotten as he passed by. "Wow… even the vegetables don't like him. That's all he mostly eats."

Four former bullies had resolved their wicked ways after previous entanglements with Garfield, whoa always kept his eye on them. "Whoa… that kid gives me the creeps."

If there was one kid at Murakami High you don't want to get on the wrong side of… it was Garfield Logan. He was a kid who liked the cold. He was one of those solitary students who preferred to work on his own, rather than in the company of anyone. He walked down the final hallway to his locker, and began to take off his cape.

The song ended with Garfield whipping around and giving the hallway of students an angry stare, which made everyone quickly look the other way and pretend they didn't seem him for fear of getting on his _really angry side._

Garfield pursed his lips and hissed softly, "…Pathetic!" Then he slammed the door of his locker and began to walk back up the hallway. Kori shivered once more, "Wow, what an unpleasant guy." she whispered to her friends.

Dick and Vic nodded, and then it began to get worse as Garfield passed three girls in the hallway. One had short red-hair, one girl had dark-skin, and the last girl had long blonde hair.

The other two girls were laughing. "Hey Jackie…" said the black girl, "Get a look, it's Mr. biggest loser."

The red-headed girl laughed softly, "Right on Jillian…" she replied, "Who does he think he is wearing that cape to school? Super-Geek…?"

Suddenly, Garfield stopped dead in his tracks and turned on his heal and walked back towards the girls. Stopping in front of them and looking them dead in the eyes. "What are you lookin' at?" Jackie sneered at him.

Quickly, Garfield grabbed their neckties and pulled them close. Some of the student in the hallway gasped as if they had just seen a ghost. "Do you girls find something funny about the way I dress?" he asked them in the face.

The girls didn't answer him, "Well maybe didn't you two stop and think that it's cold outside… and that I need to get warm? That cape I wearing was the warmest shred of fabric I could afford without endangering myself… and you two DARE to laugh at me?!"

Then he let them go, "Why am I even talking to you two? You both exhibit the mildest degrees of mental deficiency, permitting adequacy in simple activities. "

"Yo' two things…" Jillian spat. "One… you ever go messin' with us again, we'll get our boyfriends to pounce on your skinny little hind! And two… what the heck did you just say."

The blonde girl tried to quell the fighting, "Guys, guys… chill out." but Garfield warned her, "You stay out of this _Terra!_ I can't even figure why you of all people would befriend these two."

He wrote on a piece of paper the definition that he had just recited, and handed it to the girls. "You learn something new everyday." he said as he began to walk away.

Jackie and Jillian read the note, and the definition was. _"MORONS…?!"_ the girls growled as the ripped up the note. "That's it… he's goin' down!" snapped Jackie.

"Right on…" added Jillian.

"Oh, guys come on, leave him alone." Terra said. "It's a just a word after all."

As usual, her two friends who picked their own selfish pride and popularity any day had already gone off to look for their boyfriends.

"Man… somethin' tells me this ain't gonna be pretty." Vic said.

Kori however was horrified how Garfield acted, "That's nothing…" Dick said, "I remember when I first went up against him in a one on one first to three point basketball match in gym."

_**FLASHBACK**_…

_Dick was one of the best basketball players in school and the girls thought he was cute. "Thanks ladies… with your support I know I'll win." he said to them._

_Garfield however simply laughed, "Hmm, mm…"_

"_Hey… what's so funny?" asked Dick._

"_Just that you talk like such a little kid…" replied the boy-genius. This angered Dick, but he wasn't a guy to let words get to him._

_The match began and the first to get two out of three points would win. Garfield, being the observant boy that he was simply tested Dick's skills by _letting_ him score an easy basket. The girls were impressed, but Garfield wasn't…_

"_I think I've figured out your gamming signs."_ _he said to Dick, "You rely on how determined you are, and focus by pushing yourself, and when you combine it with a Lamo strategy like that, I can't help but feel sorry for any basketball team that gets stuck with a lousy player like you!"_

_That's when Garfield began to show off all the skills he had learned from all the sport-books he had read, and all the time he spent training. He clobbered Dick almost at once, much to everyone's shock._

_**END OF FLASHBACK**__…_

Kori really felt disgusted now, but deep down she felt, "Maybe he acts like that for some reason…"

"Yeah… he's a stuck up pip, that's what!" snarled Vic.

"No, no… maybe something's bothering him deep down."

Dick knew what she meant, "Many of us have been wondering the same thing since Garfield first came to Murakami, but no one's ever gotten an answer. For now, It's best to stay clear of him."

With nothing much left to do, they all headed off to class.


	5. Fights over Friends

**CHAPTER FOUR**

In math class, Kori was surprised to see Garfield, that girl Terra, and her two friends were also in the same class as she was. The Geometry test went as scheduled and was graded immediately while the students did some problem solving.

Kori however saw Garfield close all his books in the first five minutes. He was finished already, and then got out one of his other books to catch up on some reading and studying.

She also noticed how much Terra kept starring awkwardly at Garfield from her seat behind him with a strange expression on her face. Almost as if she was trying to read him, and get to the bottom of his tough-guy attitude.

Jackie and Jillian however were crumpling up paper-balls ready to throw at him, Kori was about to warn Garfield but she saw that when Jackie threw her ball Garfield raised his hand up quickly and _caught it._

The two girls were annoyed with this, and then they both the two balls at once, but Garfield was still one step ahead of them and instead of catching them, he causally bent down to the side of his desk to grab another one of his books, letting the balls fly right past him and hit Mr. Curtis.

The teacher looked up, and saw the girls trying to hide the rest of the balls they had made. "You got something to tell me girls?" he asked them both. The girls remained silent, "Okay… you don't have talk now. We'll just talk about this… over a little detention after school."

"What…?" snapped Jackie.

"That ain't fair…" added Jillian.

Mr. Curtis just shook his head in pity "Well… hitting me with paper balls wasn't fair, or nice either. Now either you two get back to work quietly or I'll triple your detention like last time."

The girls got back to those problem solving questions before anything else happened, but they did catch of glimpse of Garfield mocking them with a little scoreboard he kept in his notebook, and he added another point under his picture beside the several times he had triumphed over the girls who hadn't scored a single point.

Then he went back to his own work…

Kori was impressed by how swiftly he was able to act, Terra however wasn't sure what to think. True Jackie and Jillian were her… _close enough to call friends,_ and she had a little respect for them, but another bit of her didn't like the way they always were acting mean towards Garfield just because he preferred smarts, and studies.

Still, she carried on wit her studies, and when the end of class came the students got their tests back. Garfield passed with another perfect score, though he felt rather bored with it. Dick and Kori passed with high scores.

"Wow, focusing on our studies really pays off." Kori said.

Jackie and Jillian however flunked, and Terra just barely passed. Geometry was not her

best subject.

As the morning continued to go by Jackie and Jillian were humiliated by Garfield once again. It was in art class where today the teacher was going to be going around and grading the students for medieval-castles they had designed. The one who designed the best castle, most accurate castle of the middle ages would get extra credit.

Terra, Jackie and Jillian worked in a team, and they made a castle, they called _"Ye old and new ages"_ and made it with "Very creative, and excellent criminations…" in the teacher's words. "I must say girls, this is fine piece of work, and very imaginative, I think a B-Plus is in order."

Terra was thankful, but Jackie and Jillian didn't understand. Finally the teacher announced that, "Extra credit goes to, Garfield Logan!"

Most of the other students, even Terra applauded for Garfield's success, but Jackie and Jillian, "Him…?" snapped Jillian. "No way…" added Jackie.

Garfield then walked over with a ruler in his and pointed out the faults in their inaccurate castle. "You see… the arrow-hinges on this tower are much too wide. In real life, the west side of a castle this size would collapse the Earth around it, and it would sag into the ground. The moat is not spread off wide enough, which would allow invades to get through with ease… and in old English… the word _"Old"_ is supposed to have an _E'_ on the end."

The girls' heads throbbed in anger, but Terra thought it was amazing that Garfield knew so much about medieval castles, but still… she was very curious about his actions in hall before, and the many times before that.

…

Before lunch, Dick and Vic were in the same auto shop class together, that was where Jackie and Jillian arrived to ask their boyfriends a little favor. Dick and Vic knew those two boys as Tim and Jim, whom in their opinions were the biggest losers in school.

Bullying people… making fun of others… once they even Sabotaged a car that Vic was working on. They got a month's detention for it, but Vic still wanted revenge one day.

Right now, he and Dick could tell that whatever those two were asked to do it couldn't be good, and at lunch their suspicions were justified when the two bullies approached Garfield's table, where he was all by himself with a vegan meal. "What do you two want…?" he asked them with a sneer.

"Look bucko…!" snapped Tim "You messed with our girlfriends, now you're going to mess with us."

Jim nodded and said, "We'll see you, at the flag pole and 3 pm!"

The lunch room was suddenly filled with the sound of students gasping. The two biggest bullies in school had just challenged a student to fight. Even though fighting on school grounds was against the rules, they didn't care.

"Forget it…" Garfield simply said.

The bullies began to laugh. "Look Tim… poor baby's a little chicken."

Jim chuckled and began to make clucking sounds, but Garfield replied with, "I didn't mean that. You guys want to fight me? I could entertain myself easier with a game of solitaire."

"WHAT DID YOU SAY…?!" Tim yelled nearly causing an earthquake as he shouted.

"You heard me…" replied Garfield, "You guys couldn't beat me if your reputations as the biggest losers in school was riding on it."

The crowd gasped again. Garfield was just asking for trouble, but after a while he accept the challenge. "I'm not going to let a couple of bull-heads boss me around."

Then he left, having had lost his appetite. "Yeah… that's it, runt away you pathetic little runt!" growled Jim. _"Takes one to know one…!"_ Garfield called back.

The students continued to eat their lunches, while all secretly feeling shaken up about the unpleasantness that was going to be taking place at the end of the day. Jackie and Jillian however we by themselves with joy. "Finally…that kid's going to get what's coming to him." Jackie said.

"Ditto…" added Jillian.

Terra couldn't believe her friends, "How can you two get such a big kick out of this? Someone could really get hurt."

"Big deal…" replied Jillian. "That little shrimp ought to learn a few lessons that books can't teach you."

Terra couldn't take much more of this and she ran off to find Garfield. She also met up with Dick, and Kori who were also in the hallways looking for Garfield. They found him in the library, where he spent most of his time off in school, but Dick and Kori decided to let Terra go in first.

Dick explained to Kori that he knew Terra for a while as well. In grade nine, she and Garfield looked like they were really hitting it off. They studied together, and they looked out for one another.

Almost as if they were more than just friends…

But then, Terra met up with Jackie and Jillian, and they began to show Terra a whole new way of a teenager's life. Being popular and bagging boys, and even being carefree. Terra began to change, and her changes affected the way she acted.

Jackie and Jillian hated Garfield, just because he was different and preferred to study, and be smart, and pretty soon Terra began to brush Garfield off, as if she was drifting away.

"_Things change Garfield… The girl you want me to be is just a memory."_

Kori felt horrified, she and Garfield were friends for a long time, and she dumped him off just like that? "Is that why he's so… you know, angry?"

Dick didn't know, "It could be… but there might be more to it."

…

Terra found Garfield reading a history book, and approached him with caution. "Garfield…" Terra snapped "We need to talk." Garfield didn't even look up at her. "You can't go through with this fight. You could really get hurt."

Garfield finally looked up, "Why do you care so much?" he sneered at her. "_You hurt me_ before, at a time when I needed you the most… and now you have the nerve to tell me you're worried about me not getting hurt? You're pathetic…!"

Terra felt hurt, but she knew she had it coming her way. For the past two school years Garfield had been angry with her, and treating her like a hostile enemy. Terra knew it had to be because of her changes in life.

She tried to apologize to Garfield many times before, but he wouldn't accept it. "Garfield…" she cried as she grabbed onto his arm. Garfield stopped for moment and did feel a little guilty for what he was about to do… but he wretched out of Terra's grip. "Things Change Terra, remember?" he told her, "You wanted change in your life… and you got one."

Terra's shoulders shrugged and her head began to hang in shame as Garfield walked off. However he was confronted again by Dick and Kori. "Garfield… how could you be so cruel?" Dick snapped at him, "Terra was once your friend; I think you should try and recapture what you two lost."

Garfield just huffed, "Keep out of this, Grayson!" he growled back at him as he walked down the hallway, "Friends are just stupid!"

Dick was starting to lose his patience. "Look… I'm just saying you should have to push yourself so hard like this. Friends can really be there to help you at times."

Garfield spun around and looked Dick dead in the eyes, "I don't need help from anyone! Especially from a weak kid like you…!"

"All right… that's enough!" Kori snapped while stepping in between the both of them. "There's already enough fighting going around here already, and I can't stand it anymore."

Dick knew she was right, but Garfield looked confused at the girl standing in front of him. "Huh? What are you staring at?" Kori asked.

"What am I staring at?" replied Garfield, "Who are you?"

Kori looked like she was ready to explode. "Excuse me your rudeness, but you've heard my name before in class… the name's Kori!"

"Don't remember…!"

Dick and Terra practically had to hold Kori back from charging at Garfield. "And I thought Dick and Terra were pathetic!" replied Garfield, and he left.

Kori never met anyone so rude and nasty in her life. "What is with that guy?" she wondered.


	6. What's the Big Deal?

**_Authour's notes:_**

**_In my Teen Titan Musicals... each of the Titans sound like a real singer when they sing songs that are real deep... but only Beast-Boy has a MAGIC VOICE... he can sound like anyone, and sing anything._**

**_Much better than the way he sounded on TROUBLE IN TOKYO._**

**CHAPTER FIVE**

After school all was quiet in the school yard and Kato and Raven were meditating under a tree to help take their minds of the all the "Supposed" sadness from their gothic-lives, Raven even sang one of her songs that she wrote "What's the big deal"

The two Goths let out a huge yet soft breath at the end of their meditation. Yet when they opened their eyes they saw a big crowd of students huddled over at the flagpole. "What's going on there?" Raven wondered.

"Perhaps we should observe it, so that it will ease our wandering souls." said Kato.

They found Kori and Dick in the crowd, and they were also well acquainted with Vic as well. They asked what was going on. "Garfield was challenged to a fight by Tim and Jim."

"And he's actually going with it?" Kato asked. "Hmm… how very interesting."

His girlfriend nodded in agreement.

Jackie and Jillian couldn't stop rooting their boyfriend on, and yet the fight hadn't even started yet. The two bullies were waiting patiently for Garfield to finish whatever it was he was doing.

Finally he entered the ring of students with his necktie wrapped over his eyes like a blindfold, and his long, spooky cape was bound round his arms. "Hey, what do you think your doing?" snarled Tim. "We never said you were allowed to use weapons."

Garfield just chuckled, "Dude… I totally don't need weapons. You two goons couldn't beat me even if I were blindfolded and hand cuffed, and I'm going to prove it."

Jim laughed, "Hey, sweet score" he said while punching his hand. "This is going to be one easy deal, and you can't even use your hands."

"I won't need my hands or my feet." replied Garfield as he flexed his neck "I'll just use my head. Now let's go!"

The students began to cheer "Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight…"

Jackie and Jillian cheered loudly "Kill him!"

"Knock his teeth out!"

Poor Terra never felt so scared in her life, and she wasn't the one in the ring. _"Garfield… why don't you just ask for help?"_ she thought to herself.

Suddenly the boys began to charge forward straight for where Garfield was standing, and the young boy-genius couldn't see them coming, not with that blindfold on his face, but just as the boys thrusted their fists forward… he ducked down and rolled out of the way causing the punches to miss and hit the hard metal of the flagpole.

The boys moaned in pain over their sore hands, but they weren't out yet. "He's mine!" snarled Tim and he began to throw punches all over, but Garfield side-stepped out of the way of them all as if he could see them coming even though he was blindfolded.

"How's he doing that?" Dick wondered.

"Yo'… that kid's making those goons look like rookies."

Tim and Jim had him cornered in the middle, and they both charged towards him from both ends, but one more Garfield ducked down at the last second and the boys accidentally punch each other's faces instead of Garfield's.

"Man…!" cried Tim. "What's with this guy?"

"How does he know where we are? He's freaking blindfolded!" added Jim.

"You're both so pathetic!" Garfield snorted. "Just because I can't _see_ you doesn't mean I can't _hear_ you. What with those elephant footsteps you make, and those loudmouth voices giving you away."

The crowed awed… in amazement and shock. Jackie and Jillian were beginning to grow impatient. "Look… just finish him off, and do it now!" snapped Jackie.

"He still can't beat you with his arms tied up." added Jillian.

Garfield turned towards the direction of the voices. "And you two… will you please Shut up!" he snarled at them. "Or you'll both be next!"

The girls gasped hard, and then Garfield went back to the fight, and as he continued to dodge more and more of the boys' worthless punches. "Ah, I see… he is drawing power from the darkness." said Kato.

Dick, Vic, and Kori gazed at him in confusion. "It's simple really…" replied Kato. "He can't see, nor can he move his hands. So Garfield's drawing power from the darkness to help him focus on his other senses."

Raven nodded in agreement, "But I thought only Goths like us could tap into things like that." she said. All the others were confused again at how Garfield could focus like that.

Finally, Garfield saw, or rather sensed his chance had come. "You're going to die kid!" yelled Tim. "Say your prayers!" added Jim.

Garfield could tell from the sounds of their voices. Tim was ahead of Jim, and both were running towards him with their fists ready. He quickly ducked down avoiding their punches, and then kicked his foot of the flagpole springing him forward, and he thrusted his head… WHAMM… right into Tim's gut.

"OOHH…!" Tim flew backwards crashing right into Jim's gut. "WHOAAAAAA….!" The two goons stood petrified on the spot and then they both collapsed while clutching their stomachs.

The crowd went totally silent as Garfield unraveled his cape from his hands, and replaced his tie back on his shirt. "I told you…" he said while he put on his cape. "All I needed to use was my head."

The two bullies just lay there not responding. The crowd then parted aside as Garfield walked over towards his mopad he turned to face the other students with a very serious face. "Let this be a warring to all of you… No one pushes my buttons and gets away with it. You will always pay!"

Then he tore down the streets with his cape flying in the breeze, and he was gone. Leaving the students to go about their businesses and took Garfield's word seriously. He was not a student to kick around.

In detention, Jackie and Jillian were still horrified and humiliated. "How on Earth could that little shrimp beat our muscle men?" Jackie grumbled.

"Girl, I don't know… but that little dude hasn't heard the lasts of us." added Jillian.

"Girls!" snapped Mr. Curtis. "Let's have less word bashing, and more board washing."

The girls scowled as they continued to wash the blackboards.

…

All through that week the students couldn't stop talking about how Garfield beat up those bullies. Time and Jim were even starting to be cautious around Garfield knowing they couldn't beat his brain with their brome.

Kori and her new friends were now suffering with two cases to deal with. One of course was figuring Garfield out, and getting to the bottom of his rude, and tough attitude.

The second of which was Kitten, who had come back from her absence, and already had homework piling up that she practically ordered Dick to finish for her, and she still was giving Kori nasty looks for hanging around Dick.

Even though both she and Dick tried to explain many times that they were only just friends. "Let's get something straight…!" Kitten said to Dick. "The only friend you need here is me, your faithful sweet caring girlfriend. So you suck it up, or I'm going to tell Daddy!"

Kori's eyes narrowed. "Spoiled brat…!" she muttered.

"WHAT WAS THAT…?" Kitten shouted.

Kori suddenly changed her features. "Oh, nothing… nothing at all."

Kitten hissed just like a cat, and then walked off with Dick, mush to Kori's dislike. "What kind of a school is this?" she said to the Goths. "People are depressed, angry, and spoiled rotten…"

"It's a cold cruel world…" Kato said.

Raven sighed heavily, "I'd rather be in a graveyard trying to offer my soul to the dark spirits than try and change the world."

"Good idea. Let's go, perhaps well be luckier this time…" replied Kato as he and his girlfriend headed off.

Actually, they merely headed off to the next class which was _English and Literature._ Kori had with the Goths as well as Garfield and Terra. Today the class was told to read out the short stories they had prepared that week on certain topics they had chosen so they could demonstrate emotion, and proper wordings.

As usual, the two Goths wrote depressing poems that the rest of the class event he teacher thought to be a little too creepy.

Kori's story was in fact a song about making friends, and she wanted to dedicate it to Dick, Victor, Terra, Kato, and Raven… "For being so kind to me since I first came here"

_She also secretly wanted to dedicate to the situation involving Terra and Garfield's difficulties. Terra seemed interested, but Garfield wasn't_.

A lot of the class couldn't help but feel touched by her beautiful words. Even the teacher, who even had a tear run down her cheek.…

The kids began to applaud for Kori, and the Teacher gave her an A for that, "Most beautiful report I ever heard!"

Only Garfield seemed to be the only one who didn't take it that seriously. _"How Pathetic…!" _he thought to himself.

When Garfield went up, he told a super-frightening tale of heartbreak, and tragic loses that created scars that never healed and left the victim lost, and forever alone. As usual, the class was starring at him as if he had just told the story of Frankenstein; petrified and at a loss for words.

Some of them began to wonder where and how he came up with such a tale, especially Terra. Deep down she felt that Garfield had based that story on their little problems about changes they had two years ago. This only made her more than determined to find out everything she needed to know about him.

_**Meanwhile**_…

What Terra didn't realize was she was being observed by a secret hidden camera by Principal Slade in his underground-factory. "Hmm… Terra Markov?" he said to himself. "You seem to be quite the curious one."

He began to think about Garfield Logan as well, and how his intelligence, and logical thinking would be quite useful for him to finish the flaws on his robots. If he could only get close enough to Garfield and collect the information he needed…

"Hmm, mm, mm… I think I've found my little spy. Mmm, hmm, mm, mm…!"


	7. Discs and Tricks

**CHAPTER SIX**

Friday afternoon had come at last, and the last bell rang, Vic invited Kori, Dick and the Goths to head to the mall. They just couldn't say no, Dick also had to work his sift today. He was manager of the CD-shop.

He only had time enough for a quick bite to eat with his friends, and so they all decided to grab a huge steak-sandwich at the new "Mega-Meaty-Meat."

"Man there's nothin' I like better than a filly cheese steak." Vic said as he rubbed his large growling stomach. "Unless… it's a filly cheese steak on a Friday afternoon with no homework for the weekend..."

Dick and Kori shared a laugh, however… when they got to the stand. "Am I seeing things…?" Dick asked.

Kori shook her head, "No… I see it too."

There, standing behind the counter, it was Garfield. He was the one taking people's orders and giving them their food. "Welcome to Mega-Meaty-Meat." he said in barley more than a tone, and then he realized, "Oh, it's _you guys_ again!"

"Yo' man… what are you doin' here?" Vic couldn't help but ask.

Garfield pointed to his nametag, "Dude, what does it look like to you…? I work here!" he growled. "Now… what do you guys want."

The friends ordered their steak-sandwiches, and Garfield actually had to leave the stand so he could bring them their meals. "Okay… I can't eat… Not until that thing stops staring at me." Raven said as she pointed to the cardboard logo by the meat-stand.

"Yeah, well tough luck, Goth-Girl!" Garfield said.

Dick was very puzzled. "You're a vegetarian, Garfield. Don't you think this place is a little weird?"

"Dude… they got fries here that are made of meat, and they don't serve drinks!" growled Garfield. "Yes this place is weird, and I hate, but it's all I've got… see!" and he went back to his place at the meat-stand.

"Well excuse me!" Dick muttered.

"Yo' man… chill out." Vic said with his mouth full, "Just sit back, and let the meat do its thing."

As everyone ate, Kato even made a sad comment about the cow that was his steak."Poor unfortunate soul." he said, "Even you weren't missed as much when you passed on…"

Raven bowed her head in depression, but Kori, Dick, and Vic sweat-dropped in confusion. They just wouldn't ever understand the Goths.

…

After they ate, Dick had to head to work, and he invited Kori to check out his store which he called, _"Dick's Dynamic Disks"_ Wall to wall selves with different CD's. Sound-booths for bands to record their music onto blank disks, even a DJ's stand where one of Dick's employees's was operating and playing music for inside the store…

"This place is fabulous." Kori said. "And you manage all this?"

Dick nodded, "If it was for my friend, Bruce Wayne, helping me out, I never would've been here. Now I can learn to take care of myself, and make my own money." he told her, "Besides… I think I've got one of the most popular stores in the whole mall."

He moved behind the counter and began to help his customers with their purchases, and Kori noted one of the kids ask. "What kind of disks and music do you have here?"

Dick winked at Kori and then played a disk that everyone in the store stopped to listen to. Dick always played this song whenever anyone new asked a question like that, and "What kind of music do I have?" he said, "Kid… I got it all…."

Then he began going around the store singin about his store and his services, and handing discs out to everyone.

The customers and even Kori was very impressed… so impressed that they all began to march out of the store with Dick at the head, and sinning like a chorus.

Everyone cheered for joy and soon, Dick's store was bustling with customers. "Sorry Kori… got to go."

"Okay, bye…"

Kori started on her way home, and as she walked, she was beginning to think more and more of what an interesting guy Dick was. He never went around picking fights, and he had a high tolerance for people who insulted him. Best of all… he was the first real friend she had ever made when she had come to Murakami.

Still, she remembered about Kitten and how there were still a few difficulties to get through first.

_**Meanwhile**_…

Garfield was still working, serving his customers more meat-dishes, much to his dismay. He really felt strongly for animals, which was what made him a vegetarian. Yet as he mentioned before… it was the only job he could get.

Still, his supervisor, Bob, said he was the best employee he had ever hired. "What would I do without you kid?" he complimented. Garfield showed great respect towards Bob… even though he hated the job, so he carried on with his work, and just his luck… he had to serve Terra and her two crazy friends.

"Hey… look at the meat-head!" Jackie mocked.

"Oh, and here I thought he was nick-named potato-head." added Jillian.

"Come on guys… leave him alone." Terra said in concern.

Garfield just placed the sandwiches on the tables in front of the girls. "Whatever…!" he snapped and he left, but he secretly sniggered, and waited for it…

Terra's sandwich tasted just great, but when Jackie and Jillian took a bit out of their sandwiches. "WHOA…!"

"WHAAA…!"

They took off running around like scared puppies while fanning their tongues. Terra looked in their sandwiches and smelled something really spicy. Then she looked up at Garfield who snickered as he showed her the bottle of spicy-sauce he was holding.

Bob however saw what Garfield did and confronted him at the stand. At first he gave him a straight look, "You've got some nerve for revenge, Logan." but then he smiled, "I like that. A kid who doesn't let people push him around. Just try not to overdo it."

"Yes sir…" Garfield said.

As Bob watched Garfield work, "I like that kid… he reminds me of me; back before my spirit was crushed by the man… and now_… I am_ the man. Heavy!"

Terra however was still didn't know what to do about herself and Garfield. She wanted to show him how sorry she was for hurting him years ago, but she didn't know how to show him he was sorry, and also… if he would even accept it.

She kept staring off into space she crumpled her napkin into her hand. "If I could just figure out what's bothering him so much." she said to herself. "Maybe I can try to help him."

"Don't we all…" said a voice from the table beside her. Terra winced in her seat in surprise. "Oh… Principal Slade. I didn't know you were here sir."

Slade let out a small chuckle, "Now, now… my dear. We are no longer in school; you need not be so formal with me."

Terra felt a little embarrassed, and that's when Slade decided to make her an offer. "It seems that my student file computers have a malfunction, and were unable to scan Mr. Logan's full intelligence."

Terra thought that was awful, "But he's the best student at Murakami." she said.

"Indeed he is…" replied Slade. "I can't pass the upcoming school inspection next month without any valuable information from my best student now can I?"

"N-n-no… I guess not." said Terra. "But what does this have to do with me."

Slade told her that he was well aware of the tension going on between her and Garfield, yet she was the only student who seemed to be able to get close enough to him, and there fore, might be able to examine him more closely.

"Wait a minute! You want me to spy on Garfield?" Terra asked. "No way… I can't do that to him. He'd hate me for life if he knew."

Slade put up his hand to calm her, "Now, now, child…" he said. "He doesn't have to know, and I don't think he will know." He pulled out from his pocket a tie-clip. "You where this on your necktie in place of your other one, and it will relay any messages I may need to know when and if you ever confront him. Even he will never tell the difference."

Terra thought it over, and while it would be a good chance to try and learn more about Garfield than what she already knew, she still wasn't sure if spying was a good idea. Until Slade reminded of her, "While you consider it… think about what would happen if you could solve all of the problems Mr. Logan has, and then try to make him happy so that he would like you again they he once did."

Terra decided, "All right… I'll go for it."

Slade patted her head, "Good girl… now remember, it's our little secret." He said as he passed her the tie-clip.

Terra ran off to begin getting read for her upcoming duty to her principal, unaware that she just agreed to do dirty-bidding for the wicked man. _"Hmm, mm, mm… yes. Our little secret."_ he thought wickedly to himself. _"Phase one… is complete."_


	8. Make it clear

**CHAPTER SEVEN**

The weekend sure went by fast, and it was time for another week at school, and unfortunately Kori got a bad start that morning when Kitten gave her one last warning to keep away from Dick.

Finally, Kori couldn't stand it anymore. She needed to let Kitten have a piece of her mind and mocked her by saying, "Go chew on a rubber mouse."

Kitten turned around with her head throbbing, "What… did you… say to me?"

Kori walked up tot the rotten girl and said. "You heard me…" and she continued to make her way to class, only to have Kitten catch up to her and stop her in the hallway. "You better take that back missy… or I'll."

"You'll what? Run to daddy, like you always do?" Kori snapped. "Look here _whiskers-for-brains_… you don't scare me anymore, and if you were really Dick's friend you wouldn't always be acting so spoiled and selfish around him, and give him a break once in a while."

Kitten was starting to lose her temper, but before she could protest, "Just think about it…" Kori said and she left without being stopped this time.

As Kitten walked down the hallway,_ "Who does she think she is?"_ she thought to herself, _"Of course Dickie-Pooh likes it. He'd anything for me and he knows it."_

She found Dick in the hallway, and pretty much forced him to carry her books for her again. Dick sighed heavily, "Yes Kitten…"

Kitten noticed that Dick was acting a little strange as they walked to class, almost exactly how Kori described it. He was looking bored, and irritable, but she just judged it as he was tired of carrying all those heavy books.

"_I knew that red-head was just trying to bate Me."_ she thought.

Suddenly, the front doors burst wide open, and Garfield walked in with a very angry gaze in his eyes. His cape fluttering as he walked by in halls really him look creepy, he was then followed by Terra, who almost looked as though she was chasing after him.

"Terra… will you quit following me!" Garfield sneered without even looking at her, but the young school-girl refused to leave. "Garfield we need to talk, and you know it!" she said to him. "I want to know why you hate changes."

Garfield finally turned to face her, "That's really none of your business, see!" he scowled at her. "Your actions are absurd and on a high scale of causing an unworthy act of consideration."

Terra raised her eyebrow in confusion.

"That means…_you're ridiculous."_ replied Garfield and he stomped up the hallway and nearly ran into Vic, "Yo' man… chill out." he tried to say.

"Now, don't you start…!" Garfield said to him.

As he continued to walk away and vanish around the corner, Terra just stood there feeling sorrier than she felt hurt. She never knew anyone could be so angry with her.

Vic comforted her as he escorted her to class, "Hey, hey… never mind him, he's just being egotistical."

Terra disagreed, "Something is seriously wrong with him, and I know It." she said. "I just want to try and help him."

Vic knew she was right, and that was why he decided that it was time to get to the bottom of Garfield's anger. One simple upset with Terra couldn't be the _only source_ of his problem…

The only problem was… nobody knew that much about Garfield, Terra even explained to Vic that not even Principal Slade knew much about him… _though she didn't tell him about her being a spy._

No one at school knew where Garfield lived, and had never seen his home before. No one was even able to reach his parents as there was no phone-line they could reach except Garfield's own cell-phone… _which he hardly ever used._

Vic however had a plan, "And this baby's gonna be one heck of a doozy." Then he went off to start preparing.

…

As the day went by Kitten couldn't stop thinking about how Kori insulted her in the hallway. Calling her spoiled, and that she'd run to her rich daddy. She began to think more and more about Dick's behavior towards their relationship, and more on how to make Kori pay for insulting her.

And when lunchtime came, she found her chance. While no one was looking, she held up a spoon full of mashed-potatoes, and flung it right at Kori, and it splattered on her shirt. "Ah…!" she was able to rub most of it off her, but she couldn't seem to get the stain out.

Then she got hit again, this time with a blob of ketchup. "Huh…?" The other students began to laugh at her, but Dick, he actually had a feeling he knew what was going on, and he was quite annoyed the way Kitten was acting, he decided Kori was right…

She was nothing but a spoiled rotten brat, he hated her… and he was going to let her have it, whatever the cost. He got up and offered to help Kori clean her uniform. "Hey!" Kitten snapped, "You can't just go off and leave me here like this. Dick…! DICK…!"

Dick didn't even turn around and he was gone.

This was it… Kitten was ready to snap, as she chased after them in the hallways. "Dick… you listen up!" she yelled at him. "You have one choice, and one choice right now. Either you keep me, or you can keep her… get the picture?"

Dick turned to face her, and said. "Yeah… I get the picture."

There was a brief moment of silence, "Well…!" snapped Kitten. "Her, or me…?"

Dick's answer was pretty obvious. "I choose… her."

Kori's eyes lit up in a twinkle, but Kitten's eyes lit up in flares. "What…?"

"I said… I choose her." replied Dick. "Get the picture?"

Dick decided to tell Kitten what he thought of her all this time through song… about how much he didn't like her, he was sick and tired of being ordered around, and he didn't care what her father could say or do.

Dick explained to Kitten as carefully as he could that they were never a couple to begin with. He never liked her to begin with, and all his hanging out with her was all because she was blackmailing him, and depriving him of his rights to make new friends.

Kitten tried to protest, but Dick was able to prove her wrong all the time. The way she made him to do _her_ homework, and carry_ her_ books…? That was just too much, and he had barely been having many goodnight sleeps lately.

Kitten's head was throbbing so hard you could practically see it pulsing. "You've made a big mistake Dickie-Pooh." she said with her teeth gritting together. "Just you wait… I am going to make both of your lives miserable!"

"Knock yourself out, Kitty-cat." Kori mocked her. She and Dick shared a laugh, and then they walked off together.

Dick really felt great. He couldn't remember the last he felt what it was like to give someone a piece of his mind. "Thanks Kori…" he said.

"For what…?"

"For helping me believe that I could stand up to her like that."

Kori couldn't help but smile.


	9. Terra is a Rebel!

**CHAPTER EIGHT**

With Kitten no longer terrorizing the gang, and Dick free to go about his own lifestyle again the day continued peacefully… for _most _of the students!

Now the gang was focusing on Garfield, and trying to figure out the source of his uncontrollable emotions as it seemed pretty obvious that Terra wasn't getting anywhere.

She had been following Garfield around all day trying to talk to him again, and again, and Garfield just continued to brush her off.

She even tried to talk to him during classes. In science/chemistry she nearly interrupted Garfield's experiment and would've caused a chemical spill. "Watch it!" Garfield snapped at her, "Break this flask and you can kiss your flesh goodbye!"

_He had been trying to work on a type of acid that could cut through thick and solid steel, making laser-beams a thing of the past. Only he was still having some flaws…_

Terra had gotten at least that bit of information recorded in her tie-clip, but she was still no where near to finding out anything about Garfield for Slade… or herself.

All she managed to do was make Garfield even angrier, as he kept starring at her with a very scary expression on his face.

In the library during a brief study period, Garfield was cramming through as many books as he could within the hour he had to spare. When suddenly, a note fell through one of the books which read, _"What are you running from…? Why are you trying to avoid me?"_

Garfield looked behind him and saw Terra studying in another corner, but he could tell that she was actually spying on him again… the same we he used to spy on her when they had _their little difficulty._

Garfield walked over to her and gave her a note of his own before leaving the library. His note read, _"I'm not running from anyone. Leave me alone!"_

Somehow, Terra had a feeling he was going to write that. She remembered it happened the other way around when she befriended Jackie and Jillian and betrayed Garfield.

She dashed out of the library and followed him into the hallway, but he instantly knew she was following him. "You better give it up Terra… you can't follow me around all day."

"Yes I can…" Terra snapped back at him.

"Oh, no you can't…" Garfield said as he pointed to the sign on the washroom-door. "Boys only…!" He walked inside and sighed as he laid his back to the door. "Ugh! Perhaps I'll get some peace and quiet now!"

Terra just stood there for a moment or two, and then she walked off, but ran into Jackie and Jillian on her way to computer class. "Look, why are you wasting your time with that geek?" asked Jackie.

"If he wants to be miserable let, him rot." added Jillian.

Terra shook her head, "You guys don't get it do you." she said, "All this being angry, and miserable isn't good for Garfield, and I'm going to figure out what's bothering him the most."

She walked off to class alone having her friends pondering over what she just said. "I don't know who's crazier; her, or that geek?" Jackie said.

After school, Dick was acting a little shy around Kori. "Uh… look… I want to thank you more for helping me with the whole Kitten thing, and so… I was wondering if… well maybe…" he stuttered a little bit. "You want to… hang out at the mall, just the two of us?"

Kori felt herself blushing slightly, "Uh… well…" she stuttered just like Dick, and then answered, "Yeah… sure… I'd love to."

They suddenly found that they were starring deeply into each other's eyes, but then quickly turned away feeling a little embarrassed, and that's where Dick noticed Terra down the hallway just standing there starring sadly into her open locker.

They walked towards her, "Uh, Terra…" Dick asked. "You alright…?" but then suddenly he realized "What am I saying, of course you're not alright."

"Trouble with Garfield again?" asked Kori.

Terra nodded. She told them of how everything had happened to today was an exact Vice-Versa of what they went through when she and Garfield had their problem, "Only now it's Garfield telling me to back off." She sighed heavily as she held her head low.

That's when Kori and Dick got a good look at what she was staring at in her locker. It was a beautiful heart-shaped silver mirror-box. On the front of the bottom half was a little carving that read, _"To Terra: Love Garfield."_

Kori though it all to be very peculiar; a heart-shaped gift with the word "Love" on the front. "Terra…" she just had to ask. "We're you and Garfield… you know… more than just friends?"

Terra didn't answer, and she didn't have to because Kori and Dick could see the tear that escaped from her eye. They immediately decided to let Terra come along with them to the mall as she seemed to need some cheering-up, which was more important than their plan to spend some time alone.

…

At the mall, they met up with the two Goths who had just come form their shift at a spook-shop that dealt with things like Halloween merchandise, and gothic material all year long.

Raven even had a few speck of fake-blood on her face. "Another bright day redeemed by a horrendous blood-bath." she moaned as she rubbed the stains off her face.

The others nearly shuddered at how scary that fake-blood on her pale-skin made her look creepy. "Perhaps a horror-flick at the movies will spread some light on the eternal-darkness that surrounds us?" said Kato. "My offering to your doom..."

Raven smiled weakly. "Whatever…" she said cheekily and she left with her boyfriend arm-in-arm, and left the others to continue their way to the food court. Garfield wasn't on shift today at Mega-Meaty-Meat, which gave them the perfect chance to sort things out, without him knowing…

Terra explained to Dick and Kori that she and Garfield first met in grade-eight. They hit it of right from the start.

They didn't have any friends either, and Terra was struggling who was having a hard time doing homework and studying. Garfield looked out for her like a big brother…

Whenever she was being teased or picked on by bullies, Garfield insured that revenge was made, and that the bullies never bothered Terra again. He even helped her find an interest to study that helped her improve her grades immensely.

Terra even invited Garfield over to her grandmother's apartment, where she lived since her parents died, and every time he was allowed to stay for dinner, he always acted as though he had never tasted anything so good in his life. Almost as if he never knew what home cooking tasted like before…

"He was always so caring and polite." Terra said. "Yet deep down… I could sense a deep dark secret within him. Especially when he never allowed me to come to his place for some reason, so I never found out where he lived…"

She even told that everyone that it was in Grade-nine, when they first went to high-school together that he gave her the mirror-box, and even asked her out… and she accepted.

Garfield never got out that much, as he was always too busy studying… or trying to perfect certain experiments he would think up, or write out those depressing stories he told in literature class… _possibly in an attempt to get rich quick._

So, since he'd never been on a date before, and since it was for his benefits, Terra took him to all her favorite places. One of which was a rocky-hilltop near the edge of town where you could stand up and get a view of the entire city.

They stopped at a café that Terra usually went to after school, and even though the café had no vegetarian dishes for Garfield, they did make a mean apple-pie which Garfield redeemed as…_"This… is the greatest pie… in the history of pie."_

Then they hit it off at the theme park, where Terra admitted to Garfield, _"You're my definition of fun."_ Of course it only being their first date… they didn't kid at all, but they did give each other a warm hug before saying goodnight.

"I remember that night so well…" Terra sighed.

Kori and Dick thought that was sweet, "But what exactly happened between you two?" Kori asked. "How big was this _Change?"_

Terra's eyes slowly shut, and she said "I met Jackie and Jillian over the summer holidays, and that's when things began to change"

Terra explained that, Jackie and Jillian seemed like two girls who could teach her other styles of life. Like how to be a real teenager. How to shop… impress boys… and be popular. Terra always had wanted to be popular and have more friends, and gradually she began to act more and more like her friends did.

She enjoyed shopping, and learning to be carefree about certain things, and she had completely forgotten about Garfield and all the fun they had together, and when it came time to go back to school… that's when it happened.

Jackie and Jillian didn't like Garfield from the start, and wouldn't let him go anywhere near Terra, and Terra herself… even after one summer of all that changing, Terra was acting as though she had amnesia, and didn't remember Garfield at all.

Garfield then followed her around trying to recapture what they once had. _"Why can't things go back to the way they once were? You and I were so happy then."_

"_Things were never the way you remember. Now just leave me alone."_

"_But… Terra…"_

"_Things Change Garfield… the girl you want me to be isn't who I am."_

…

Tears of guilt ran down Terra's cheek, "And when I finally did remember some weeks later, it was too late." she cried. She referred to how Garfield had changed…

He acted hostile, and his anger was out of control, he even looked as though he hadn't been sleeping well, what with those bags under his eyes. She tried to apologize to him and work out their difference, but he wouldn't let her anywhere near him…

He once even threatened to call the cops if she didn't stop stalking him… by giving her a warning through a song-video he had made in computer class.

Garfield, dressed with a black leather jacket over a white T-shirt, a golden chain around his neck. Sunglasses over his eyes, blue jeans, and white sneakers… was lying in his bed one late night and began to sing to a punk rock song. About how he was a simple punk being disturbed in the night by a Rebel Girl- Terra- being too noisy, and int he end she is taken away by the cops.


	10. Garfield's Horrifying Home

**CHAPTER NINE**

Terra couldn't hold it in anymore. Her face was buried in her arms on the table as she sobbed softly, feeling both upset of how Garfield treated her, but more on how she led him.

Kori and Dick felt really bad for her. They had enough information to tell them that Terra and Garfield were indeed more than just friends… they were almost even a couple, but it ended in a near tragic, and upsetting heartbreak.

Kori almost felt like she was going to cry herself while Dick was angered and confused by the way Garfield had acted in the story, and the way he was acting now. _"I can understand why Garfield would act like that over a break up…" _he thought, "But what would drive him to carry out such a grudge for two years, as well as take it out on his fellow students?" he wondered aloud.

Kori wanted to know the answer to that as well, "Oh… but what can we do about it?" she asked.

Not one of them knew the answer to that. Garfield was a pretty slick guy; never let anyone discover where he lived and what he did with his days… but that was soon going to change.

Vic had been working secretly to get the dirt on Garfield for a while now. He always dreamed of being a _super-technician_ who designed gadgets and vehicles for agencies and organizations.

_He was smart like a genius, but not quite up to Garfield's level. _

He had been busy designing mobile robot-cameras so small that even Garfield would able to miss it. So while no one was watching, he slipped a few of his robots into Garfield's mopad, and waited for him to head home.

That night, Vic was at home using his computers to track the robots using radar he had invented. A small flashing dot that showed Garfield's current position showed that he seemed to be moving clear out of town, and officially left the city and headed way out beyond the rocky-valleys.

"Where's that kid goin'?" he wondered.

Finally, the signal stopped on one place miles away from the city and it didn't move anymore. Vic waited a while and then activated the robot controls. "All right, let's crank up the juice and see what this kid's been keepin' from us."

His robots began to fly all over the place, and take their pictures, roll film, and record back onto Vic's files… but what Vic saw nearly petrified him on the spot all night long. He had never seen anything like what he saw before…

"Man… somethin' tells me the others ain't goin' to like this."

…

The next day, Vic rounded up all the others, especially Terra… and he showed them what he had recorded last night, and they too were shocked and horrified to see what was on those images.

The first one showed a spooky looking meadow and there was a huge storm cloud in the skies making it darker than night, and it was barely sundown. The skies were shaken with soft lightning and thunder, and eerie winds were howling.

There was Garfield, at an old water well, tugging and pulling on a chain, growling like a bear. "It's utterly incredible!" he grunted, "Ugh… Ah! Fourteen years, and nothing has changed at this place!"

"No plumbing! No Gas! No Electricity… NO NOTHING!" He reached over as far as he could to get the buck of water when it came to the top, and he fell halfway into the well. "WHOA! GAAAH… I HATE THIS PLACE!" he roared.

He managed to pull himself out of the well, but he was soaked from head to waist. He then walked up to what appeared to be a dark, and run down building… _near a bog?_ He set the water down inside the doorway, and then walked of towards a creepy dark forest.

The thunder shook the skies, wolves howled, and Garfield growled all the more. "Dude… everything messed up!" he grunted as he entered the forest with an axe. "Everyone gets to enjoy the sweetness of life… and what do I get… _indigestion!"_

…

The next robot showed Garfield in the dark forest chopping away at dead logs and fallen trees. Obviously he was gathering firewood. Then as he brought the wood out of the forest, he could hear a wolf pack nearby him… and those wolves looked awfully hungry.

Garfield ran for his life, careful not to drop his wood, and when he made it out the forest, he took his axe in hand and scared the wolves away. "BACK, BACK, BACK! DOWN YOU FANG-TOOTHED CARNIVORES…!"

The wolves yipped in panic as they ran back into the woods leaving Garfield to walk angrily up to the building, and disappear in the darkness as the thunder struck again.

That's where the signal was lost as there was too much interference from the savage weather, but the last one finally captured what was sure to be the most horrifying images of all.

It was very late at night, and the third robot's imaging began outside. An Ominous, frightening, and tense-sounding music was heard followed by other frightening noises, such as a wolf howling, a cat meowing, and a woman screaming!

BOOM! Lighting and Thunder shook the skies, which lit up the sign at the gate that lead to the building. _"Mysterious Theater…!"_

The robot then flew straight towards the building, and managed to make its way inside where it was dark, spooky, and pretty big for just one person to live.

Suddenly, the robot found what it was looking for. Garfield was sitting in a big green armchair by a roaring fire, candles lit all around him, a bookshelf behind him, and he was dressed very strangely; He wore and old-style white light shirt with a black bowtie, and a big red bathrobe.

The music was coming from an old-fashioned needle-recorder machine, which was practically the only modern piece of technology in the entire place, _aside from the mopad._

The music was now playing much more somber, and dark like as Garfield turned to look out the large window as more thunder crashed. The eerie winds howled blowing the bushes and tree branches across the window.

Then he took a sip of his tea, and turned to the table before him where he was writing up another story, and he actually spoke aloud as he wrote the summary.

"_I am Garfield Logan, your humble and gracious host. Welcome to Mysterious Theater, the place that brings you misery-stories… with many broken hearts and surprised endings."_

"_Tonight's story is about young hero who lost the only girl of dreams. As our story begins, the hero sees a young lady who resembles someone he knew from long ago, but she greatly denies it, and while the hero wants things to return to the way they once were he must accept the fact in life that… THINGS CHANGE…!"_

The music stopped playing as the thunder struck again. _"Let's join them… now."_ Garfield began to jot down his story.

Terra was most shocked to hear such a tale of losing someone you loved, especially when that was all you wanted, but worst of all… she knew that Garfield had based that story on their own _"Things Change"_ problem.

In the end of the story, it was no good for the hero. The girl wanted nothing to do with him, or the life she once had as his sidekick. _"I'm not a hero… I'm not out to save the world. I'm just a girl with a Geometry test next period and I haven't' studied."_

The hero continued to eye the girl until she vanished into the crowd. The hero left the school completely crushed, and as he left town and walked into the sunset, bit by bit he threw away his equipment.

He was never seen, or heard from again. He didn't have the nerve to fight crime anymore.

Garfield began to write his closing statement. _"And so ends the sad tale of _"Things Change." The wolf howled, and the spooky music started up again as Garfield lay back in his chair talking to himself…

"_Tune in next time for more tragic-tales of deep-despair from a world where hearts never heal… and souls are lost forever. Until then- I'm your host, Garfield Logan. Bidding you "Farewell…" From Mysterious Theater…"_

The thunder struck again as Garfield turned to look out the window and shook his head sadly, yet he had an angered look on his face.

…

"That's it…" Vic said. "I ran out of recording."

"Guys…?"

"Yo'…?"

But the others just sat there with their jaws hanging wide open, and their eyes bulging wide. "That was his home?" Dick finally asked.

Kori couldn't believe it. That was the scariest, savage looking place she had ever seen in her life. "Even the Goths aren't as creepy as that. Uh, no offence guys…"

Raven and Kato couldn't blame her, because she was right. They only acted somber, and upset, while what they had just seen on Vic's computer. "Words alone cannot describe the horror that I felt in that abyssal of doom." Kato said.

Easily, Terra was the one who was most disturbed. "That would explain a lot why Garfield's so angry all the time." she said. "Even I would be if I live in place like that."

"Wait a minute…" Raven said, "We may know where he lives, but do we know why?"

There was a brief moment of silence and the others all sighed irritably. "And I thought we had the answer." said Dick.

"Oh, we'll get one all right…" Vic said, and he explained to the others that he still had the coordinates to where Garfield's home was. "If the answer won't come to us… then we'll go and get it."

The others all agreed, and after school, they all rode in Vic's car straight for the edge of town, and the lands beyond. It was time to confront Garfield and squeeze the truth out of him.

Some of them still felt a little discouraged about this, but the others knew that this had to be done, and as they headed off, they all sang a song about being on a mission.

As they continued to drive, the sky was starting to grow dark with those exact same storm clouds as was seen in Vic's images, and the temperature dropped a little.


	11. A tragic tale

**CHAPTER TEN**

It was already as dark as night due to the black storm-clouds blocking out the sun. BOOM! Lighting and thunder shook the skies wickedly. Chills ran down everyone's spines as Vic parked his car and they all filled out.

"Man, this place gives me the creeps…" Dick said.

"That makes two of us…" added Raven.

Everywhere they looked, there were things that were eerie, spooky, and death-threatening. "This is no place for a guy to live." Kori said. "Where is Garfield anyway?"

The thunder struck again, and illuminated the building. "I'll give ya two guesses." said Vic. Realizing it would be safer in there than outside they all headed through the creaking iron-gates, up the squeaking wooden steps.

SQUEAK! "WHOA…!" Terra yelped causing the others to yelp too. "Come on y'all… this here ain't no time to go to pieces." said Vic.

They knocked at the door, and just like in a horror movie, it creaked as it opened by itself. "Goodness gracious..." cried Kato. "Shall we… enter?"

They all walked inside the dark house, and seemed surprisingly even bigger than what it appeared to be on Vic's images; almost as if this building was like some sort of home.

Still… what else they saw was no different. There was no twenty-first century items anywhere. No plumbing, no gas, no electricity. "What is this? The 17th century?" asked Raven.

They continued to explore the house, and found more and more spookiness wherever they went. Paintings of bitter and depressed people… Crumpling bits in the walls and ceiling… and the thunder and howling winds making everything even scarier…

_**(Music cue)**_

Suddenly, the sound of music was heard causing everyone to jump again. "W-W-What's that…?" cried Kori.

"It's coming from in the house." said Dick. They all trekked back through the house, and into the main-living room where the candles were lit, a fire was roaring, and then, the big armchair spun round, and there was Garfield still in his school uniform, without his tie, but with his cape on.

The expression on his face told the others he knew they were coming, and he began to sing "Welcome to my nightmare!"

He got up from his chair and began to lead the others back outside into the eeriness._  
_  
Wolves howled, and the thunder struck again. "This is getting really creepy." cried Vic._  
_  
Garfield then walked all over the mist that surrounded the area fanning it everywhere with his cape, and he even snuck up on the others giving them a fright.

Doont he song ended and Garfield approached the others and gave Vic back the spy-robots he found. "Dude… so not cool spying on me like that!" he snapped at him.

Terra stepped forward with a straight impression on her face. "Garfield… what is this place?" she asked sternly.

"Uh… as if I didn't just tell you already… my home." replied Garfield.

Kori shivered as a chill ran down her spine. "Some home this is." she said in disgust, "How can anyone live in a place that's so dark?"

That made Garfield laugh, "Are you kidding? It's still late in the afternoon. Wait until nightfall… when it _really _gets dark."

"Darker than this…?" Vic exclaimed, "That's impossible!"

"Twice as Dark…!" replied Garfield. "It's been this way for years. That storm cloud just hovers over blocking out the sun and moon. Lighting and thunder always crashing, and it hardly rains."

"It makes me feel all the more worse that I was the only kid never to leave the _gurney-orphanage."_

"Orphanage…!"

"_Orphanage…!"_

"_ORPHANAGE…!"_

His voice seemed to echo through the empty space around them. "Orphanage…?" asked Raven. "I though this place was called Mysterious Theater?"

Garfield showed her that it was, by showing her the wooden sign which he had painted over the original writing. "But won't the owners of the place be mad at you?" asked Kato.

Garfield decided, "All right… I suppose I may as well tell you the whole story. Since you obviously don't know how to bug off and mind your own business!"

Everyone scowled at him, but decided to let him say his piece.

It was all true, Garfield was also an Orphan, but not like Dick, Kori, or Terra… he had it the hardest and more painful way anyone would never dream of having.

It all stared when Garfield was only a boy, His parents died in a boating accident, which Garfield believed he could have prevented even though he was very little.

He was found by two villainous-kidnappers that tried to make him help in their crimes, but they were captured and arrested. Garifeld was then assinged a legal Gaurdian… a greedy man named Nicholas Galtry who despised the boy and plotted to kill him just to have the inheritence money for himself.

He was then passed onto his foster mother, whom he became very close with… but then she died in a police-battle. One by one, Garfield was passed onto many fosters who like all others, died, or left him.

It was then that he ended up at the Gureny-Orphanage, with a lot of other orphans who didn't like him, would't let him join in their games, and even picked on him at times.

Durring his time at the orphanage with the others was when he started to gain his intelect, and super brain. He would study with all the books they had because there was no TV or things like that… and the other orphans treated him like a misfit.

He never got adopted either. Couples came from all over searching for a shicld to adopt, some would take a look at Garfield, but end up choosing someone else. A few couples even dispised Garfield just because he was ever so smart instead of cute, and playful.

Years went by and nothing had changed. Garfield was the only orphan left, and the owners of the orphanage deicded to retire early and leave Garfield the deed to the orphanage. _"He was a lost cause"_

Ever since then, Garfield had lived by himself, and worked hard every day to keep himself alive. When one day he packed up what little supplies he had, and began his journey to Jump-City… miles beyond the lands.

He was very poor, and had no where else to stay, he needed to find a job and fast, but no one gave him a chance just because he was poor, had no job experience… and didn't care that he was starving and needed help.

Finally, he met Bob, and got a job at Mega-Meaty-Meat, and despite how much he hated such a place, being a vegan and all that… he just had to take it, and it was even how he came into possession of his mopad; _Being the first and only employee that Bob ever got that year._

After a while of trying to perk himself up, Garfield saved up a lot of money from his job, and was able to enroll himself in junior high-school, where he too got the bums rush for being the new kid.

Once again, he was upset, lonely… and felt so unimportant. Then he met Terra, and things finally started to turn around for him… until they got to High-School and she gave it to him.

"_Things Change, Garfield. The girl you want me to be is just a memory."_

Change, change, change! Garfield's entire life of tragedy and pain was all based on Changes. All his loved ones died, he was threatened by villains, people didn't give him a chance… and finally his problem with Terra put the cherry on the cake.

He just quit caring!

…

The others now had the whole truth. "That's why you, don't like changes." Dick said.

Garfield nodded, "You had the never to ask me what my problem was? Well look at us. You were lucky enough to gain a rich foster daddy, and the rest of you still had loved ones who could take care of you… but not me. No! It was just one tragedy after another… with no light at the end of a tunnel."

The others were pretty much speechless, until Vic broke the silence, "Yo' man… chill out with all this emo stuff." he said, "Look, maybe you did have a bad past, but you can still have a sweet future."

"Pathetic…!" Garfield said. "What kind of future did you have in mind? One where people will love me, befriend me, and things will get better soon? I tried that before, several times over, and look what it got me!"

"I lost all my loved ones… I lost things that I already had too." He paused for a moment as he rubbed the bags under his eyes. "I haven't gotten a good nights rest in months. Who could sleep with all this thunder and wind anyway."

The others had no idea of what to tell Garfield, as they never expected anyone to have such a horrid life-style. Always being miserable, and working hard day, and night to earn no reward.

"Look Garfield, you have to get out of this place." Terra said. "You can't live like this all your life."

Garfield just huffed again indicating he didn't care much for that idea. "Besides… even if I wanted to, where should I go? The location we are in is a desolated, virtual inhabitable environment with surroundings of high casualties and death-threatening hardships."

The other were confused, "Uh-huh… one more time… in English please?" said Raven.

Garfield sighed, "All right… I'll rephrase." he said. "Even if I wanted to come with you guys… which I so don't! As you can all see, we are geographically and metaphysically _in the middle of nowhere_… surrounded by _hostile environments."_

The others looked around, and discovered he was right; Aside from the black storm clouds- there was an abandoned tower… a graveyard… murky lake… the hapless forest, _home to many man-eating wolf packs… _and miles of vast and empty fields.

It was even determined that without strong, and fast transportation… it would take at least a week to reach Jump-City miles away.

"So you see…" Garfield said. "Unless I have to attend school, work… or other appointments and engagements… here I am, and here I'll stay! I've tried to leave, but it's virtually impossible."

"Now I'll thank all of you kindly to get off my property, and not disturb me again!" With a flick of his cape he began to walk back towards the house, but he was suddenly stopped by Terra grabbing onto the end of his cape, trying to make a final effort to convince him to come back to town.

"Let me go!" he demanded as he wretched his cape out of her grip.

"Garfield…" she cried softly.

"Save it Terra…" he snapped at her. "I've been through enough, and I don't need you guys to convince me to go through all that again."

"Look we're just trying to help you." snapped Raven.

Garfield shook his head, "You just don't get it do you?" and he sang another song whereas he made it clear "All by myself, I stand alone!"

The song ended as Garfield slammed, and locked the doors, and the thunder struck again. Feeling defeated, "Well… let's head on home gang." said Vic "No point in hangin' around when we're not wanted."

Everyone climbed into Vic's car, and they all drove away back toward the direction of Jump-City. Garfield kept watching them from his window until they were out of sight, and he began to talk to himself again…

"And thus ends another tragic tale from a world where hearts never heal, and souls are never found. Join us next time for _Mysterious Theater!_ Until then, this is your host Garfield Logan saying… Good night."

The Thunder Struck again as he pulled the curtains closed.


	12. Desire, and Danger

**CHAPTER ELEVEN**

All the rest of that week, the others didn't know what to do about Garfield. Too stubborn and too angry to trust, or even listen to anyone… but they had to admit… for living all alone most of his life he sure had come a long way with his tough exterior.

But still, it was no excuse for the way he was acting. "He is a troubled and aggravated soul. That is a very sorrowful shame." said Kato. Raven agreed with her boyfriend, but once again the others didn't understand. "You see my friends… too many painful losses can drive a person mad… and Garfield has suffered through one too many hardships. Any lesser of a man would have died from several stimulations heartbreaks long ago, and yet he still manages to survive despite all the hardships that continue to oppose him."

The others thought that those were some pretty deep words to describe Garfield. "I just wish there was something we could do for him." said Terra.

The others could tell that by her deep concern for Garfield's welfare, she still had feelings for him, sadly they didn't have time to talk about it because classes were about to begin.

Vic and the Goths walked off to their own respective classes, while Dick, Kori and Terra made their way to math-class. Along the way, they had to pass by Garfield's locker, and Terra caught a glimpse of Jackie and Jillian peeking around the corner, and giggling cheekily.

Garfield opened his locker, and immediately saw a bucket of water ready falling out and ready to soak him, but Garfield successfully caught it before it topped over completely and could spill any water at all.

The others were amazed, and Jackie and Jillian were outraged. "Tut, tut, tut… very amateurish on my person..." Garfield said as he took the bucket and dumped the water in the nearest drinking fountain. "Being a Genius certainly has its advantages."

What he didn't notice was, as he was dumping the water from the bucket, he had left his locker open, and something small slipped off the shelf inside, tumbled out of the locker, and skidded along the floor until it hit Terra's shoe. "Huh…?" She bent over to pick it up, and when she looked up, Garfield was already gone, and his locker was shut-tight.

Not that it mattered anyway. The bell already rang and it was time for class.

_**Meanwhile**_…

All those past few weeks, someone else had been quite busy too. Principal Slade had gotten all the information from Terra that he needed about Garfield, including where he lived. "The time has come." he hissed to himself. "Finally I'll be able to get all that I require to finish my robot-army, and finally make those crazy teenagers fall like the misfits they are."

He flicked on the security cameras and viewed Terra's class where he got a good view of the young girl. "Thank you my dear. You've been most helpful."

…

It wasn't until lunchtime that the six friends met in the cafeteria. "Did you give that thing back to Garfield yet?" asked Dick.

Terra smacked her head feeling stupid, "I totally forgot I still had this thing, whatever it is." she said as pulled it out from her pocket.

"It looks like some sort of wallet." said Kori, but obviously it couldn't have been a wallet because it was much too thin. Then suddenly, it fell open revealing several snapshot pictures that made Terra gasp. "Oh, my…!" she cried.

The others got a good look at the photos, which were of her and Garfield. "These were taken on our first date, at the photo-booth at the amusement-park."

Garfield had kept those photos all this time? This began to strike the others as odd, but then they realized there was only one explanation. "Garfield obviously must still have secret feelings for you." said Vic. "Why else would he keep these?"

No one could think of any other way to argue with that, but now Terra was more confused than ever. What could she do? Even if Garfield really did still have feelings for her… he was doing his best not to show them on the surface, and brush her away like a pesky fly.

Somehow, there had to be a way for her to prove to Garfield that she still cared for him… and she wanted to do all she could make it up to him. The others offered to help her in anyway way that they could. "Thanks… but… I know this is something I have to do by myself." she said. "It's between me and Garfield."

Terra gazed across the room, and starred almost heavenly at Garfield. She remembered all the fun times she had, and sadly all the mishaps… but most of all, how much she wanted him back. She even sang a song in her head "You must love me"

Terra didn't feel like eating anymore. She just wanted to be alone right now and have some time to think. So she got up and left the table, leaving the others feeling pity for her.

…

That night, after school, as Garfield returned home to his haunted lands he noticed something that wasn't there before; _Tire tracks!_ Not like the ones Vic had made when the others had visited him the other day.

He followed the tracks, but he could see a car anywhere, but when he walked up tot the door of the building, the stello-tape he had placed on the door was ripped. _"Somebody's inside."_ he immediately assumed.

Grabbing the axe that was just beside the door, he slowly crept inside, and then, the door snapped shut on him leaving him in the dark and at once a fight began between several thugs.

Even though it was dark, Garfield was still able to use his other senses to struggle for a while, but in the end, he was caught, drugged, and kidnapped from his home. "All right men… take him away." hissed a familiar voice in the darkness.

The thugs carried Garfield outside and to the car which was hidden in the darkest corners, cataloguing it entirely. On the sides of the car was a big red S' for _"Slade!"_

He had personally escorted one of his posses to Mysterious Theater earlier that day, and they had been waiting for Garfield ever since. _"Now that I have the smartest boy in the school… I can finally move onto the final phase of my glorious plan."_ he thought wickedly.

…

The next day, Garfield was not present for class, and no one had seen him at school all morning. The teachers and the students thought this to be very odd. Garfield Logan would never skip class, nor dare to even not come to school all together.

_Once he ever attempted to come to school and take a test, even though he had bad cold. He didn't care…_

"Heh, what do ya' know. The shrimp ran away." Jackie mocked.

"See… I told you that kid was a geek." added Jillian.

"Hey you two knock it off…!" Terra growled.

The girls were nearly stuck by her snapping at them like that. "What's her problem?"

"Yeah… you'd think she was in love with that nerd."

Terra kept her scowling face turned away as it quickly changed to a worried expression. Her worrying grew as the day continued and Garfield was still no where to be found or heard from. "Where is he?" she wondered.

_**Meanwhile**_…

Garfield was being held a prison in Slade's lair under the school, bound and wired to a computer-machine, and he had already been told of Slade's evil plot. The evil man approached Garfield and smirked wickedly. "Poor, Garfield Logan." he hissed. "The smartest student in school, a prisoner, and preferring pain and torture… to a little cooperation…"

Garfield looked up into that evil mask. "Yeah, well I don't know who you are Slade, or for that matter what you are." he spat at him, "But you got to be crazy if you think I'm going to help a sadist like you unleash a whole bunch of robots all over to wipe out teenagers!"

Slade snickered wickedly. "Then it's unfortunate for me that I can make you help me weather you like it or not." he said as he moved over to the computer controls and showed him images of… "Terra…?"

"Hmm, mm, mm… yes, your so-called, almost sweetheart." replied Slade. "She has done me quite well in your capture."

Garfield's eyes widened, "What are you saying?"

Slade turned on the X-ray cameras, and zoomed into the clip on Terra's tie. "You… you used her!" Garfield growled. "You used her just to get to me!"

"Very good, my boy." hissed Slade. "That poor girl… she'd do anything in her power to make up everything to you. It was no difficult task to persuade her into helping me."

Garfield was at a loss for words as he was lost in his own thoughts about all the things Terra had been trying to do to for him. To make up for all the times she hurt him, and even recapture what they once had, and all that time he was acting like a bully and a very rude guy.

"Terra…!"

"Hmm, mm, mm… don't worry, you'll see her again quite soon." replied Slade. "Or better yet… right now."

He motioned into the darkness, and out walked a perfect look alike of Terra, one of the robots completed. "It's… its indescribable." cried Garfield. "Every detail perfectly the identical to the real thing."

Slade smiled evilly and then flicked on a huge light-switch which illuminated the whole factory producing more robots, one for every student at Murakami that he would soon unleash upon the city.

Slade was beginning to laugh maliciously. "Finally, order will come to the world… and all of those rotten teenagers will PAY!" and he sang a song "In the Dark of the night" and gloated of how great it would feel when his labours were completed.


	13. Something is not right!

**CHAPTER TWELVE**

As more of the robots came off the assembly line, they each passed through a small gate of electrical currents… these currents were actually the essence of Garfield's intelligence to which Slade had copied from his mind, painfully, and brutally.

The wires shocked Garfield's head. And the poor boy screamed in pain, but no one could hear him from underneath the school. The copied intelligence were then transferred to the robots to make them think more like Garfield, and be just as tough as he was.

"Sorry to leave you… but I have a world to conquer." Slade said. "But not to worry, we'll be back for you."

Slade marched off with his robot army, leaving Garfield all tied up, and alone. "Dude… I can't let him get away with this!" he said as he struggled to tried and free himself.

…

That night after school… Kori and Dick finally decided to try for some alone time at the mall again, and this time they had no interruptions. A small dinner at the food court, a little shopping sprint; Dick even bought Kori a new T-Shirt with small hearts on the front and words that said… _"Somebody loves me"_

Kori looked up while blushing, and Dick winked at her, making Kori feel all squishy inside.

Then they hit it off at the amusement park, and would you believe it… their date went almost exactly like how Terra described her date with Garfield went.

A few simple rides, a go at the snap-shot booth... They even played some of the carnival games. Kori wasn't quite so good, but Dick was more than just amazing with his sport-skills. He even won her a huge teddy bear to go with the shirt he had bought her.

Kori never thought she would actually meet a person like Dick. A guy who was always there for someone, and who never gave up even if he was at a dead-end… even when it came to Garfield he wouldn't give up.

She wasn't sure if what she was feeling was real, but… she was beginning to like Dick more than just a friend; much more.

Still, when she and Dick took a ride on the ferries wheel Dick noticed that Kori was staring off into space. "Hey… you feeling alight?" he asked her.

Kori turned, "I was just thinking about Terra and Garfield." she said, "You know… I just hope that things will work out between them."

Dick knew how she felt, he too never felt the same since he saw Garfield's home and heard about the unfair, unbearable lifestyle he had been subjected to. Living all his life in misery and anguish… losing those entire he loved and cared for.

Terra also had it bad too, she was wadding in a pool of regret and sadness for hurting the one guy who meant a lot to her. She needed him, as much as he needed her. "Hey… I'm sure things will be alright." Dick said to Kori.

"How can you be so sure…?" Kori asked in deep concern.

Once again, she and Dick were staring into each other's eyes, and this time, they didn't look away. "Kori…" Dick said as he held her hand, "I can't be so sure… but I am sure of something else." he paused for moment, "You're not like other girls I've ever met before, and no matter what happened in my life style, I would never… ever want to do anything to hurt you intentionally."

"And… I wouldn't want to hurt you either." said Kori. That's when her face and Dick's slowly began to move towards each other's "So let's just do ourselves a favor and forget the whole thing… before… we…"

Their lips were less than a centimeter away from making contact, when suddenly the whole ferries wheel gave a huge jolt causing them both to slip and fall. "What happened?" asked Kori.

Dick got up and looked down through the cages. "What the-"

Down below were several students he recognized from Murakami, grabbing hold of the ferries wheel supports and shaking the whole thing. "Hey, what are they doing?"

Kori screamed in fear as Dick held onto her tightly and the ferries wheel began to tip over. "Hang on, Kori!" The whole things tipped over with a loud crash, but luckily, the cage they were in was near the bottom so they didn't get hurt badly… but the ferries wheel began to burst into flames.

"Come on, we got to get out of here!" cried Dick as he a Kori climbed out of the wreckage of their cage and began to run for their lives, only to be chased by three more students. "Why are they chasing us?" asked Kori.

"I don't know… but I'm not sure I'd like to find out." Dick answered.

As they continued to make their escape, the saw the whole amusement park was filled with teenaged couples panicking, and being threatened by more Murakami students. Dick even caught a glimpse of one of the boy students grabbing a huge metal pole as if it were light as a feather.

"What…?" exclaimed Dick.

Then he saw a girl-student walk right through tall flames, and she didn't get burned, or ever cry _"Ouch!"_

Something was defiantly weird about these kids, but Dick and Kori had already just barely escaped with their lives just as the police came.

_**The next day**_…

A few students at Murakami were reported missing, and some were acting very strangely. Even Jackie and Jillian's boyfriends, Tim and Jim were acting stranger than usual.

In Vic and Dick's auto-shop class. They wouldn't speak at all, not ever if they were questioned, and those who dared to try and pull tricks or pranks on them, or even yell at their faces… they got hurt badly as the students assaulted them.

The two Goths noticed that all their classmates were acting as if they were all possessed. "Perhaps that incitation we cast in the cemetery last night is responsible?" Kato suggested, but Raven had her doubts.

…

Worse than that, Garfield was still missing. Terra couldn't take any more of this. "Something is not right here." She muttered as she dashed down the halls and headed for the main office singing "Something is not right, something's wrong!"

As she ran down the halls, not a corner she turned did she see a disturbing scene. Students not talking to one another, some lifting heavy loads they never could lift before, and more students not in class and reported missing.

She took her case to Slade, "You've got to close the school down." she said.

"Why ever should I do that my dear?" Slade said. When Terra told him about the missing students, and there being trouble amongst others, "Now, now… I can assure you, these problems shall be dealt with."

Terra noticed that Slade didn't seem to be too concerned with this, and for once Terra stood up. "You're hiding something, aren't you?" she snapped, and that's when she noticed Slade sniggered under his breath, _"Heh, heh, heh…"_

Terra realized that Slade was up to no good and she had to warn the others, but as she turned to leave, she was ambushed by… her own self; or rather Slade's robot clone of her.

Robo-Terra held Terra up off her feet, and covered her mouth to silence her screams. Then she was taken to Slade's underground lair as his newest prisoner. Slade then brought up a list on his computer and marked Terra's student picture with an X. "Hmm, mm, mm… and another teenage-twerp bites the dust,"


	14. Love led us here

**CHAPTER THIRTEEN**

Terra found her self tied up at the legs, and she was dangling upside-down in the dark. "What… what's going on?" she called out to the darkness, "Where am I?"

Suddenly, the lights flickered on, and there stood Slade in his armored-suit, and there standing beside him was Robo-Terra and, "Garfield…? What are you doing? Get away from him!"

Garfield didn't reply to her, but Slade did. "Go ahead… as him whatever you like. He's not programmed to answer you."

"_Programmed…?"_

Slade snapped his fingers and a beam of light shone down right aside from where Terra was hanging, and she could see the _real Garfield_, tied up exactly as she was, being lowered down to join her in the hanging. It almost looked weird for him hanging there with his cape hanging upside down like that. "Fancy meeting you here..." Garfield said to Terra.

Terra smiled, but it quickly faded. "Why, Slade?" she practically sneered at him. "Why, and how could you do such a thing?"

Slade sniggered, "You want the truth… you can't handle the truth." he said. "You rotten Teenagers and your rude ways, and don't try to tell me that you aren't! You're all alike; every last one of you. Well… I say the time has come for you to fall into place."

He continued to explain to Terra how his robots were already threatening the school; hunting down and replacing all the kids, "And very soon… I shall have enough robots to conquer all the teenagers in the world."

Terra began to realize, "You mean… you wanted me getting close to Garfield just so you could program these robots using _his intelligence?"_

"Darn you Slade…" growled Garfield, "I swear… when I get out of this, I'll make you sorry you ever became principal!"

Slade shook his head as he sniggered humorously. "Escape, you say?" he asked as he clapped his hands. "I wouldn't dream of it…"

The whole place began to rumble. "What's happening?" cried Terra.

"Look down there…!" said Garfield.

The floor many feet below them began to open wide revealing a huge pit filled with powerful toxic-waste; with a destructive force enough to melt an entire mountain to nothing.

Garfield's pencils slipped out from his pocket and plunged into the toxic-abyss… and exploded. "Whoa…!" he yelped. "Don't tell me… you're planning to do us in so that no one's left to tell your secret and head the authorities?"

"Very good…" said Slade, "You really are smarter than you appear."

Then he motioned overhead to the part of the ceiling where their ropers were chained to a large piece of meal bolted to the ceiling. The bolts were beginning to turn red, and heat up.

"Slowly but surely… the metal will melt away, and collapse under your body weights." Slade explained, "And then… you have a very long time to wave goodbye as you plummet to your doom."

Garfield gasped, "Ah…!"

"No!" cried Terra.

Slade then turned, and motioned for his robots to follow him out of the factory, leaving Garfield and Terra hanging with no way of calling for help, no way of getting out safely, not much time left.

"You know…I'm beginning to see a pattern in the way your life leads you." Terra said to Garfield.

Garfield chuckled nervously, "Yeah… well as you once said, the past is behind us." he said. "And the future- below us!"

Suddenly, he noticed that Terra looked like she was going to cry. She couldn't believe that this was really the end, and worse… she felt deep in her heart that this was all her fault. Not just for making things harder for Garfield, but allowing Slade to use her for his bidding which lead the toxic-pit below.

Garfield couldn't help but feel it was his fault as well. For being so uptight and rude to everyone, which lead to Terra testing Slade, trying to make up everything she had done to him.

"Oh, Terra…" he said comfortingly to you, "It's not all your fault."

Terra shook her head, "Yes it is…" she sobbed. "I tried to make up fro all the bad things I did… and… I only made things worse!"

Garfield hated to see her upset. Sure he had seen her upset before, but never like this. "Please… don't cry for me, Terra!" he said soothingly to her.

Terra looked at him, "What did you say…?" she asked. She gazed at his face and noticed he was smiling at her. That smile she used to see on his face long ago, but thought to have been long forgotten. They both began to sing a slow romantic song about what led them here.

As the song continued, the metal-bolts above supporting the lines were starting to cave-in, but Garfield and Terra were too wrapped up in the moment to notice. Any second, Terra's line was going to give-way, but Garfield reached out to her, and she held his hand for the first time in a long time.

SNAP! Terra's line had had it, and if Garfield hadn't quickly grabbed onto the rope, she would've fallen to her doom. "You… you saved me!"

Garfield was twitching and struggling to hold onto her, but managed to answer. "Uh… yeah… yeah I did."

Still, even though Terra was safe, Garfield's line would soon give-way, and then what would happen, other than them falling to their gruesome death?

_**Meanwhile**_…

Up in the school, things had gone from bad to worse, by this point there were small fires, broken glass all over the floors, lockers smashed, and more wreckage as some of the students continued to act crazy.

Most of the other students had already fled in panic, but some were still left behind, and among them were Dick, Vic, Kori, and the Goths. All five of them were hiding in a classroom, behind the teacher's desk.

"I don't know what's got into these guys… but they're all just runnin' around like this is some demolition derby." said Vic.

Kori and Dick recognized some of the students as the same ones that had wrecked their date the other day, and a few of them even had broken handcuffs on their writs. "Event he police couldn't stop them." cried Kori. "How can they be that strong?"

"I don't know…" said Dick. "But I got a feeling that there's more to this than we know."

They all looked towards the door, and saw Jackie and Jillian being dragged by their hairs down the hall by "Garfield… and Terra?" Raven said in confusion. "Them too…?"

Jackie and Jillian were screaming and yelping in pain. "Hey let go… that hurts!" cried Jackie.

"GAAH… I think my head's going to pop off!" cried Jillian.

The five friends covered their ears, as it was like listening to a cat screeching to nails on a chalkboard. As much as the others liked seeing those two suffer for all the horrible things they did to other students, no one deserved to suffer that much.

"Dick… come, we must help them!" said Kato.

"Right…!"

Then the two of them leapt over the desk and outside. "Garfield… Terra!" Dick called.

Garfield and Terra turned to look over their shoulders. "Stop this at once!" Kato demanded as he and Dick approached them... but Garfield and Terra, still holding the girls each with one hand, and socked them hard with their other fists causing the boys o skidded across the floor.

Raven and Kori winced and held their eyes. "Ooh…" cried Vic. "That had to hurt."

Dick and Kato were alright, but they were shocked. "I knew Garfield was strong… but-" Dick was at loss for words.

Terra and Garfield then began to walk away with the girls still in tow, but Dick and Kato lunged for them again, only to be knocked backwards again. "Goodness…" cried Kato. "It's as if they're possessed."

Dick nodded in agreement.

This time instead of trying to rush Terra and Garfield, they grabbed onto Jackie and Jillian's legs trying to pull them out of custody. "YEOW…! Watch it!" cried Jackie.

"What are you trying to do… pull us apart!" added Jillian.

A human tug-o-war had begun, with neither side letting go of the girls. "Pull! Pull harder!" cried Dick.

"I call on the dark forces…!" Kato called into the air, "Grant us the power we need… NOW!"

Dick almost though Kato was crazy, until… SNAP! Both they and the girls flew back and skidded across the floors. Jackie and Jillian never felt so relieved, but as they rubbed their sore heads, they screamed at the sight of… _human hands in their hairs…_ and ran off in panic.

Dick and Kato gazed at each other, and then looked back to Terra and Garfield and noticed that they were each missing their left hands, and wires and blinking lights could be seen where their hands should be.

Kato and Dick got up and fled back to the classroom where they shut and locked the door. "Robots…!" cried Kato. "They're Robots!"

The others gasped in horror. "Get out of here, really?" asked Vic.

Dick nodded and explained about Garfield and Terra losing their hands. It all began to make some sense now. "Someone's creating robot clones of us, and attacking Teenagers." said Kori.

"Yeah… but who's doing it, and why are they doing it?" asked Raven.

"Totally… and where are the real Garfield and Terra at?" added Vic.

Suddenly, more of the robots outside began to bang on the widows, and more kept trying to burst down the door. "We're trapped! There's no way out." cried Kori.

"Yo' not if I got anything' to say about it." said Vic, and using his huge muscles, he ripped he huge vent-cage off the wall. "everyone in here quick… it's just big enough for all of us."

Wasting no effort, the five friends jumped in just as the robots began to pile into the classroom, but all trying to go through the hole at once, they just couldn't fit allowing the others to narrowly avoid capture.

They were safe, but for how long?


	15. Plan to save the day

**CHAPTER FOURTEEN**

Garfield and Terra were still dangling over the toxic waste, and Garfield's line wouldn't hold up much longer. "Careful… don't drop me!" cried Terra.

Garfield pulled with all his might to keep her line in his grasp, and that's when he noticed that both he and she were swaying back and forth like sitting on a swing. He got a good look at how far away the main platform was. "Terra… I got an idea." Garfield said. "I'm going to try and swing you onto the platform."

Terra gazed up at him, "What? Are you crazy?" she practically yelled at him.

"Yes…!" he answered back to her, "But there's no other way out… it just might give us a chance!"

Terra got a look at the platform and how far and high it was. "I don't know… what if I don't make it?" she asked.

"Look if we stay here… we'll both go down for sure!" replied Garfield, "Terra look, I know you're scared, but I have faith in you. Now… do you trust me?"

Garfield had never told Terra before that he had faith her, and she couldn't argue with that. "Okay… let's start swinging." They both began to rock to and fro, like a swing in the park, and it was working. They were getting closer to the platform, but just not close enough.

"Okay… on three, I'm going to throw you onto the platform." Garfield called to her. "If my calculations are correct, you should land directly on the platform just near the edge."

Terra didn't like the sound of that, but nevertheless, "I'm ready…" she called bravely.

She and Garfield continued to swing. "One…!" Garfield counted slowly waiting for just the right moment, "Two…!" Terra's stomach was growing queasy either with fear or the fact that she was hanging upside down for so long. "THREE…!" Garfield tossed her at the perfect time…

Terra swung through the air, and landed hard, but firmly and safely on the platform. "Ow!" she groaned, but then she realized. "It worked!"

"Whoo-hoo…!" cried Garfield. "I told you it would work." But then his line gave a jolt. "Whoa! Terra hurry, try and find the switch that gets me out of here!"

Terra nodded, and hopped over to the control panel, as her legs were still tied up, but when she got to the control panel, she did recognize it as the same one where Slade was standing, but the problem was. "There are five levers!" she cried. "I don't know which one to pick."

Garfield's line jolted again, "Look, just pick one…" he yelled to her, "AND HURRY…!"

Terra hesitated for moment and then tried the lever on the far left which made Garfield's rope lower deeper into the pit. "Aaaaaaah… WRONG ONE!" He cried.

Terra quickly pushed the lever back. "Okay… uh…!" she pulled another one which began to heat up the bolt holding Garfield line even hotter, and it finally overheated the control so she couldn't stop it. "Uh Terra… I don't want to die here!"

Terra was officially ready to freak out, but Garfield saved her life, and now it was up to her to save him. She tried the lever in the middle, and this time… a steel walkway stretched its way out of the platform and over towards Garfield. "It's working!" Terra cried.

"Yeah…!" Garfield called. "Way to go Terra!"

No sooner had the platform stretch out enough did Garfield's rope finally snap and he landed with a thud on the metal, but he was safe. "Garfield!" cried Terra.

She tried to rush over to help him, but fell over as her legs were still tied up. It took a few minutes for them to undo the ropes, but eventually they were freed, and safe and sound. "I did it…" Terra said happily. Garfield smiled at her, "I knew you could Terra."

_**Meanwhile**_…

The others were still drawling through the air-ducts; every exit they found only led to more meaning robots just waiting to get even with them. There were no teachers or staff left in the school to help them; they were all on their own.

"Ow! Watch it!" cried Kori.

"Ah! Get your feet out of my nose." moaned Kato.

"Hey! You poked me again!" growled Vic.

It was hard for them to all crawls through the vents at the same time, but they also knew they couldn't stay there forever. "There's got to be a way out of here." said Dick.

"Well I hope we find one soon…" groaned Raven as she pushed another foot out of her face. "Ugh! I can only take so much more of this."

… Back in the lair, Garfield and Terra were still trying to figure how to get out, as well as a plan to stop the robots. "Say… I wonder what that last lever on the table is for." Terra wondered.

She knew the fourth one would close the toxic-pit, but the fifth one, she reached. "Terra… what are you doing?" called Garfield, but Terra already pulled the lever.

…

In the air-ducts, the five friends continued to crawl through when suddenly Dick stopped, causing all the others to bump right into him. "Dick!" snapped Kori, "Why did you stop?"

"Quiet…!" Dick snapped, "Anyone else feeling that?"

The duct began to quiver all around them. "Yo' man… I got a sinking feeling about this." cried Vic, and that's when they all fell through a trap door that opened up beneath them and they skidded down a long and curvy slide.

… One by one they landed with a thud in the underground lair. "Did you have to say the word, sinking?" groaned Raven.

"Guys…!" called a voice. The others got up and saw Garfield and Terra, and hey winced back believing they were just other robots. "Hey! Hey! It's us." Garfield said.

"Prove it…!" said Dick.

"You're pathetic."

The others already knew that had to be the real Garfield. "Okay… I'm convinced." Dick said.

"Good… now will someone please tell me where the heck we are, are how we're gettin' out of here?" asked Vic.

Terra and Garfield explained that Slade was insane and he was planning to wipe out teenage rudeness by eliminating all teens with his robots. "He said… today my school, tomorrow the world." said Terra.

The others were horrified. "I knew there was something about Slade that I never liked." grumbled Dick. "We've got to stop him."

"But how…?" asked Kori, "You hear what they said. They're programmed using Garfield's intelligence. They know everything he knows and their as strong and slick as he is."

Everyone else realized she was right, but suddenly Garfield had an idea. "Of course…" he cried with joy. "That's the answer!"

He explained to the others that while it was true the robots knew everything he would know, but Slade, the man who built them didn't. "That means they got to have some kind of weakness."

Everyone's eyes lit up, "Kid… you're one heck a genius." said Vic.

Garfield smiled, and then he explained that somehow they would have to go through Slade's files and study the robots assembly. "Everyone quick… find any clue you can get and start studying."

"_RIGHT…!"_

During the rest of that afternoon, while Slade was out, and his lair unguarded, the others went through as many of his files as they could find, and Garfield managed to crack the codes on the computers to gain access to more info.

Vic-Suggested "We all just bust up there and smash them all to scrap-metal."

Garfield disapproved, "There's too many to attack one at a time, they'd outnumber us. Even I can't fight off that many at once."

The others all agreed, "Which means we have to find someway to finish them all off at once." said Dick.

Garfield finally had an answer. "The robots… their skin is only artificial and their insides are steel and all the natural things."

The others all nodded, "So… that's it… maybe my new acid experiment can burn through their skins, shells, and malfunction their systems."

"Yeah… and just how are you supposed to make enough of that when it's up there, and we're down here?" Raven asked.

Garfield winked, gesturing that he had a plan.

Garfield had analyzed the toxic-waste that Slade tried to use to kill him and Terra, "It contains a corrosive substance, and traces of chemicals normally found in acids and poisons. This should work."

Leaving Garfield to work on producing drums of his acid, the others began to go over their plans to get the robots into one place where they could then dump the acid and finish them all off. "So we're agreed…?" asked Dick.

"Yo'… you bet we are." said Vic.

Kori and Terra nodded.

"The Dark forces will aid us all the way." said the two Goths. The others found that a bit weird to say, but nevertheless, they were ready.


	16. Let's Kick it up!

**CHAPTER FIFTEEN**

All over town, teenagers were running scared from the robots that hunted for them, and some had been hurt very badly, and the police were still powerless to stop them as they did not know the robots' weakness.

Slade was watching from the rooftops of one of the tall buildings. "Look at them squirm down there." He chuckled to himself. "All of those rotten teenagers finally getting the payback they deserve."

The robots began to tear down night clubs, video arcades and all sorts of places that teenagers would normally hangout. Damages were starting to spread all over the city, and Slade enjoyed seeing every bit of it. "Ha, ha, ah, ah, Ahh… I just can't get enough of this." he laughed evil, "Who's next?"

"You're next, Slade." called a voice. "This time you've gone way too far."

Slade looked down and saw Dick and Kori down below in the streets, and starring up at him. "Don't be foolish!" he hissed down at them. "No one can stop me and my robots now!"

"No one except us…!" growled Kori, "And that's just what we're going to do!"

Slade ordered his robots in the area "Get them!" and at once robots emerged from every building. "Let's go…!" shouted Dick and he and Kori began to run for it. The robots began to chase them here and there, all over the block, and right back to the school.

Vic, Kato, and Raven were in other areas of the city, with their own respective bikes and cars, and leading more of the robots into chasing them back to the school.

…

Garfield and Terra were hard at work preparing the little trap for the robots that would be piling in soon. Garfield had dumped his acids into the pipelines of the building, and sealed them all of so that all the acid would flood the gymnasium, while Terra was busy bolting, and barricading most of the doors shut-tight as well as providing an emergency escape with the upper windows, that lead to the second-floor.

Fire-escape ladders she could use to pull up her friends once the doors were all sealed tight. She spoke to Garfield on a walkie-talkie, "Garfield… everything's ready in the gym."

"_Right… everything's ready here too."_ Garfield answered over the radio, _"Just give me the word and I'll throw the switch. With my calculations those robots are in for an acid bath."_

…

The robots were still chasing the other five all over town, and in groups, all of them had radios which they used to communicate with one-another. "All right… that's all the robots." said Dick, "Everyone, head for the school!"

"I'm on it!" called Vic.

"Coming at you!" added Raven.

"Help is on the way." said Kato.

One by one, the friend arrived at the gymnasium doors, and tricked all the robots into following them inside. "This way bolt-brains." they mocked. The gym was barley big enough to hold them all, and the friends had to quickly rush up Terra's escape ladder. "Come on guys, hurry!" she cried.

The others bounded up the ladder, and when the last robot was in, Vic rushed in and using his strong-man strength, he pulled a strong row of seats over the door before heading for the ladder. All the friends were safely upstairs and out of the gym, but before Terra could give Garfield the signal, she was grabbed from behind by her robot-clone, and Raven and Kori were grabbed by the Garfield-Robot.

"Awe man… we must've missed them." Cried Vic as he helped Dick and Kato to try and pries the robots off their friends. "Hurry…!" cried Kato, "The robots are trying to escape!"

Dow below, the barricades on the doors only slowed the robots down, but it didn't stop them from punching and kicking the doors with their brute strength and try to break them down.

It was tough struggle but the boys managed to free the girls from the robots and sent the robots through the window and down into the gym with the others. Terra picked up her radio, "Garfield, do it now!" she cried.

"_I'm on it…"_ Garfield answer, _"Acid's away!"_

The whole gym suddenly began to rumble as the huge pipes overhead exploded pouring the dangerous acid to the floor. The Robots began to go berserk as their hulls were eaten by the liquids and their systems shorted out. One by one they each sank into the pit, and when the acid had burned itself out all that was left were a wrecked gym cluttered with robot scraps.

The six friends in the hallway cheered for joy. Kori and Dick even hugged each other tightly, but then quickly turned away almost feeling shy again, but then decided… "Whatever."

The others awed in passion as the two of them shared a soft embrace. Vic even wiped a tear from his eye. Terra then picked up the radio to tell Garfield the good news, but he didn't answer… "Garfield…? Garfield…!"

"_Don't waste your breath child."_ hissed a familiar voice over the radio.

"Slade!" growled Dick.

Then suddenly a large trap-door opened in the floor causing the friends to fall and land in Slade's lair where they could see Garfield was being held hostage again. "Yo' man… let him go!" growled Vic.

"Garfield!" cried Terra.

Slade laughed, and then his features became angry, "Why should I…? You rotten Teenagers, I've finally had my fill of this!" he thundered, "You disrupted my project! You destroyed my robots… and now you're all going to pay!"

"You are all mindless, sloppy, insignificant Teenagers… you all choose to wreak havoc upon the adults, and disobey orders. You're all just monsters!"

"You're wrong, Slade!" snapped Garfield. Slade turned to face him. "We're not all bad… in fact there are some of us who surprise even the adults. Teenagers may need to learn sometimes, but that's all the in process of growing up and becoming an adult who is mature and peaceful!"

"We're not the monsters Slade, YOU ARE! YOU'RE NOTHING BUT LOW DOWN SADIST PIG!"

Slade finally snapped, "ENOUGH…!" and he picked up a chair ready to throw at the poor boy, but Kato, Dick, and Vic lunged at him from behind tackling him to the floor.

The girls rushed over to free Garfield; Terra hugged him, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah I'm fine." he answered, but then they fixed their eyes on the fight.

Slade knocked the boys off of him, and one by one the boys tried to attack him, but his armor was too strong. Vic even tried to break the chair over him, SMASH! "Uh oh…!"

Slade turned, "This is going to hurt…" and he socked Vic right in the face sending him down like a tree falling in the woods. Leaving Slade to brutally beat on Kato and Dick; holding them to the wall and punching them endlessly.

Garfield and the girls couldn't bare to watch, but Garfield had an idea. While Slade wasn't looking he made his way over to the consoles. The girls wondered what he was doing… until…

Something began to rumble hard, that made Slade turn round; "Huh…?" the WHAMM, a huge wrecking-ball slammed him away from the boys. "BLAARGH! AAH…! Rotten brats!" he thundered as he tried to use the emergency controls to stop them, "What's going on? Why won't it work?"

Garfield explained to Slade "While we were down here working on how to beat you, I did a little reprogramming to all your computers. Now they'll only respond to me!"

"Ah…!"

The next thing Slade knew he was being chased all over the chamber

Garfield continued to aim the wrecking-ball at Slade, and as the chase continued, Slade leapt out of the way causing Garfield to miss and hit the walls, and controls in the lab.

The more Slade dodged Garfield's wrecking-ball, the more the wrecking-ball destroyed more of his lab, and suddenly the whole place began to break up and cave in.

"WHOA…!" the others cried. "Yo' man we gotta 'am'scra outta here!" cried Vic.

Sparks began to flare as rubble and debris fell from the ceiling. "My lab! My beautiful, glorious lab!" cried Slade. WHAMM! He took his eyes off the wrecking ball which knocked him unconscious.

"Dude…!" cried Garfield. "I got him!"

"Right… now lets get out of here!" yelled Kori.

As the lab was underneath the school itself, it too began to collapse. Vic actually picked up Slade, he didn't deserve to die all that much, and everyone began to tear through the building and bound for the exit.

"WATCH IT! SHE'S GOING DOWN!" shouted Dick.

The school collapsed into a pile of rubble, and the laboratory below exploded in a huge ball of fire. They had gotten away just in time.


	17. School's out!

**CHAPTER SIXTEEN**

Upon his recover and the authorities arriving at the scene, Slade was taken away to a maximum security prison where his wicked ways would never hurt anyone again.

The seven friends seemed to be okay, only Garfield was still a feeling a just a little wiped out from all the beatings from Slade he took. "Garfield…" Terra walked over and helped him to his feet. Garfield shook himself awake and found himself starring deeply into Terra's eyes, and she starring back at him. "Terra…"

"Garfield…?"

The other five began to smile cheekily thinking that this was probably it. The moment they had waiting for.

The sun began rise early in the morning. It was so beautiful, but Garfield never looked away from Terra. "Look…" Terra said, "Things Change Garfield… we can't always control them, or what they do to us. We can't change our pasts but we can change our futures for the best."

Garfield placed a finger over hr lips hushing her. "Terra… you're right about that, but you left something out." he told her, "Things may change, but in life… well… some things never will change."

The others didn't like where that was coming from. It almost looked as if he was only going to ask her just to be friends…

"I'm one of those things Terra…" replied Garfield, "I have something that won't ever change in me, no matter what you, or I, or anyone else does."

Terra began to look down as she assumed he was talking about his tough-guy style, and living miserable forever, but she had to ask anyway… "What is it?"

That's when he cupped her chin in his hand and tilted her head up so that their eyes met. "It's my feelings for you, Terra." She said with a smile, "That will never change."

Terra smiled as a tear ran down her cheek, "Garfield…"

Their faces slowly moved towards each other, and their lips made contact for the very first time, ever!

"Aw!" cried Kori.

Dick, Kato and Raven smiled, and Vic simply said, "Well its about time."

When Garfield and Terra got back up, "Well what do we do now?" asked Kori. "The school's destroyed."

Everyone realized she was right, "Well… there's only one thing for it." Vic said, "Looks like School's out for summer early!"

_**(Music cue)**_

All the people around began to groove to the music that began to play, even the students, whereas some were greatly relieved. "Hey Garfield… care to take the stand?" Vic asked.

Garfield smiled, "You got it, bro." and he started off a perfect song for the occasion "School's out!"

By this time, the whole city was caught up in the rock and roll as the students and citizens partied all over town.

KAPOW! There was a Major explosion…!

…

An Explosion so big that Starfire woke up, "Dick! Victor!" she cried.

The other Titans, who were still arguing, turned to face her, "Starfire?" Asked Robin, "Are you okay…?"

"Yo' man… looks like someone's been miles away." said Cyborg.

Starfire realized that she was only dreaming, "Friends… I dreamt that we were not ourselves." She said, "We were all normal humans, and attending High-School, and Slade was there!"

The others didn't like the sound of that, especially Raven, "I was wearing a school uniform? Ugh… Puh-lease!"

"It sounds to me as if it was not such a bad experience." added Copy-Cat.

Starfire rubbed her eyes fully awake. "Where are Beast-Boy and Terra?" she asked.

"You don't remember?" asked Cyborg.

"We've only been arguing here for a few minutes since they stormed out of here in bad moods." added Robin.

That certainly boggled her mind. The whole dream that lasted for weeks really only lasted a few minutes? It was most confusing.

The others decided to leave Beast-Boy and Terra, and hope they would find some other way to get out of their depressions of their pasts, and of their school lives…

But actually… in Terra's room, it was another story as Beast-Boy and his wife's clothes littered the floor, and soft moaning was heard from underneath Terra's bed sheets.

_**And that's our cue to exit…!**_

"_**THE END"**_


End file.
